Marine
Laboratory Library
, Massachusetts
UHOMPSOM MONTGOMERY
(Philadelphia architect, ncphed of
Ihotna* Jiarrim Montgomery (tin-
<MBL investigator, and <Priscilla Wnuslm
OAontyomtry (1874-1956), MBL librarian.
(fjft oj thc4rsm$ jfugh tMontflmerfy MfD.
and ^aumond^B. Montocmcru — 1987.
ROUND ABOUT
THE NORTH POLE
"DONE UP"
Frontispiece
ROUND ABOUT
THE NORTH POLE
BY W. J. GORDON
WITH WOODCUTS AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS
BY EDWARD WHYMPER
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1907
PREFACE
AtfONG the many books about the Polar regions
there is none quite like this, dealing with the
gradual progress of exploration towards the north
along the different areas of advance within the Arctic
Circle.
The subject is always interesting, for few regions
have been the scene of more persistent effort and
exciting adventure and unexpected gains from the
unknown, particularly in the earlier days when the
endeavour to find the northern passages to the east and
west led to the beginning of our foreign trade.
It is often asked, " What is the use of further Arctic
discovery ? ' No one knows. Nor did any one know
the use of most discoveries before they were made.
When Eric landed in Greenland he was not in
search of cryolite for aluminium. When Cabral sailed
to Porto Seguro he knew nothing of the incandescent
gas-mantle. When Oersted looped the live wire round
the magnetic needle he was not bent on founding
electrical engineering. And when Linnasus noticed
the sleep of plants he had no intention of providing
a substitute for a clock in high latitudes where, though
vi PREFACE
the sunshine is continuous during the summer, the
plants within the Circle sleep as in the night time,
their sleeping leaves telling the traveller that midnight
is at hand.
Men have made up their minds to reach the Pole,
and thither they will go. What they will find when
they get there may not promise to be much, but what
they have found round about it has been enough to
influence considerably the history of the world.
W. J. G.
July, 1907.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I PAGE
SPITSBERGEN 1
CHAPTER II
SPITSBERGEN (continued) 24
CHAPTER III
NOVAYA ZEMLYA 49
CHAPTER IV
FRANZ JOSEF LAND 64
CHAPTER V
CAPE CHELYUSKIN .... ... 84
CHAPTER VI
THE LENA DELTA 106
CHAPTER VII
BERING STRAIT 127
CHAPTER VIII
THE AMERICAN MAINLAND 146
CHAPTER IX
THE PARRY ISLANDS 170
CHAPTER X
BOOTHIA 190
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER XI PAGE
BAFFIN BAY .... .215
CHAPTER XII
SMITH SOUND . . . 235
CHAPTER XIII
GREENLAND ... .259
INDEX 287
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"DONE UP" . . . . Frontispiece
From Nansen's first Crossing of Greenland (Longmans)
TO FACE PAGE
THE SUMMIT OF ORAEFA . . . ... 2
From a photograph
COLUMBUS ..... .4
From the portrait at Versailles
SAMOYEDS AND THEIR DWELLINGS . . .10
From Hartwig's Polar World (Longmans)
FRANZ JOSEF FIORD . . . ... 14
From a drawing by Lieutenant Julius Payer
WHALERS AMONG ICEBERGS . . ... 30
From Hartwig's Polar World (Longmans)
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN . . . . .34
From Le Tour du Monde, 1860 (Hachette)
TRACK OF H.M.S. "DOROTHEA"' AND "TRENT" . 36
From A Voyage of Discovery towards the North Pole, performed in His Majesty's Skips
"Dorothea" and " Trent," under the command of Capt. David Buchan, R.N., 1818,
by Capt. F. W. Beechey, R.N., F.R.S. (Richard Bentley, 1843.)
PARRY CAMPED ON THE ICE . . ... 40
From Captain Parry's Narrative, 1828 (Murray)
PARRY'S BOATS AMONG THE HUMJIOCKS . 42
From Captain Parry's Narrative, 1828 (Murray)
HOW OUR SHIP STUCK FAST IN THE IcE . . 50
From A True Description, by Gerrit de Veer (Hakluyt Society, 1853)
HOW WE NEARLY GOT INTO TROUBLE WITH THE SEA-HORSES . 56
From A True Description, by Gerrit de Veer (Hakluyt Society, 1853)
ADOLF ERIK NORDENSKIOLD . . ... 90
From a photograph
FRIDTJOF NANSEN . . . ... 96
With autograph. From a photograph supplied by himself
REINDEER . . . . ... 112
By permission. From Short Stalks, by Edward Buxton (Stanford)
SAMOYED MAN . . . . ... 114
From Seebohm's Siberia in Asia (Murray)
x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
TO FACE PAC.r
OSTIAK MAN . . . . . . . 116
From Seebohm's Siberia in Asia (Murray)
THE FACE OF THE FUR SEAL . . ... 130
From The Seal Islands of Alaska, by Henry W. Elliott (Washington, 1881)
THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS . . . ... 132
From Hartwig's Polar World (Longmans). From an original Sketch by Frederick
Whymper
DRIVING THE FUR SEAL . . . . . 134
From The Seal Islands of Alaska, by Henry W. Elliott (Washington, 1881)
FUR SEALS AT SEA . . . ... 136
From The Seal Islands of Alaska, by Henry W. Elliott (Washington, 1881)
THE PARKA OF THE ALASKAN INNUITS . ... 138
From Whymper's Alaska (Sampson Low)
THE FROZEN YUKON . . . . . 140
From Whymper's Alaska (Sampson Low)
ASCENDING THE YUKON . . . ... 142
From Whymper's Alaska (Sampson Low)
MOOSE-HUNTING ON THE YUKON . . . 144
From Whymper's Alaska (Sampson Low)
MAHLEMUT MAN . . . . ... 146
From Whymper's Alaska (Sampson Low)
WINTER TRAVELLING ON THE GREAT SLAVE LAKE . . .150
From Franklin's Journey to the Polar Sea, 1819-22 (Murray, 1823)
CROSSING POINT LAKE . . . . 152
From Franklin's Journey to the Polar Sea, 1819-22 (Murray, 1823)
KUTCHIN INDIANS . . . . 154
From Hartwig's Polar World (Longmans). From an original sketch by Frederick
Whymper
PREPARING AN ENCAMPMENT ON THE BARREN GROUNDS . . .156
From Franklin's Journey to the Polar Sea, 1819-22 (Murray, 1823)
SIR JOHN RICHARDSON . . . . 158
With autograph, from a letter in the possession of Edward Whymper
BACK'S JOURNEY DOWN THE GREAT FISH RIVER . . .160
From Back's Arctic Land Expedition to the mouth of the Great Fish River
in the years 1833, 1834, and 1835 (Murray, 1836)
SIR WILLIAM EDWARD PARRY . . . 170
With autograph, from a letter in the possession of Edward Whymper
SIR JOHN BARROW . . . ... 178
With autograph
H.M.S. " HECLA " AND "GRIPER" IN WINTER HARBOUR . . 180
From A Voyage for the Discovery of a North-west Passage,
by Capt. Parry (Murray, 1821)
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi
TO FACE PAGE
PARRY'S DISCOVERIES ON HIS FIRST VOYAGE . . . 182
From A Voyage for the Discovery of a North-west Passage, by Captain Parry
(Murray, 1821)
AN IGLOOLIK ESKIMO CARRYING HIS KAYAK . ... 190
From Parry's Second Voyage (Murray, 1824)
PARRY'S FARTHEST ON HIS THIRD VOYAGE . . 192
From Parry's Third Voyage (Murray, 1826)
THE "VICTORY" . . . . ... 194
From Sir J. Ross's Arctic Expedition, 1829-33 (Webster, 1835)
NORTH HENDON . . . . ... 196
From Sir J. Ross's Arctic Expedition, 1829-33 (Webster, 1835)
ESKIMO LISTENING AT A SEAL-HOLE . . ... 198
From Parry's Second Voyage (Murray, 1824)
H.M.S. "TERROR" LIFTED BY ICE . . . . 202
From Hartwig's Polar World (Longmans)
FRACTURED STERN-POST OF H.M.S. " TERROR'' . . . 204
From Capt. Back's Narrative, 1838 (Murray)
THE " Fox " ESCAPING FROM THE PACK . ... 208
From M'Clintock's Voyage of the " Fox "
THE "Fox" ON A ROCK . . . ... 210
From M'Clintock's Voyage of the "Fox"
DISCOVERY OF THE CAIRN . . . ... 212
From M'Clintock's Voyage of the " Fox "
SIR MARTIN FROBISHER . . . . 216
From The Three Voyages of Martin Frobisher (Hakluyt Society, 1867)
ESKIMO AWAITING A SEAL . . . ... 222
From Hartwig's Polar World ( Longmans)
A GREENLANDER IN HIS KAYAK . . ... 224
From Le Tour du Monde, 1868 (Hachette)
BAFFIN BAY IN 1819 . . . ... 232
From A Voyage of Discovery, by Capt. John Ross (Longmans, 1819)
DR. E. K. KANE . . . . .234
From the Frontispiece to Kane's Arctic Explorations, 1856
KALUTUNAH . . • 236
From Le Tour du Monde, 1868 (Hachette)
THE EAST COAST OF SMITH SOUND . . ... 238
From Hayes' Open Polar Sea (Sampson Low)
DR. I. I. HAYES ... .240
By permission, from Hayes' Open Polar Sea
xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
TO FACE PAGE
THE SHORES OF KENNEDY CHANNEL . . ... 242
From Hayes' Open Polar Sea
TYNDALL GLACIER . ... 244
From Hayes' Of en Polar Sea
A SEAL IN DANGER . ... 246
From Parry's Second Voyage for the Discovery of a North-vjest Passage
(.Murray, 1824)
SIR GEORGE NARES . . ... 248
From a photograph
SLEDGES USED BY SIR LEOPOLD M'CLINTOCK AND SIR GEORGE NARES . 254
(In the collection of Edward Whymper)
BISHOP PAUL EGEDE . . . ... 258
From the Frontispiece to Efterretninger out Gronland (Copenhagen)
GREENLANDERS . . . . ... 260
From Hartwig's Polar World (Longmans)
ON LEVEL GROUND . . . ... 262
Nansen's First Crossing of Greenland (Longmans)
THE ALLAN LINER "SARDINIAN" A.MONG ICEBERGS . . . 264
From a photograph
THE " GERMANIA '' IN THE ICE . . ... 266
From Le Tour du Monde, 1874 (Hachette)
THE REGION ROUND MOUNT PETERMANN . ... 268
From a drawing by Lieutenant Julius Payer
THE LAST DAYS OF THE " HANSA " . . . 270
From Le Tour du Monde, 1874 (Hachette)
ROBERT E. PEARY . . . ... 280
With autograph, from a letter in the possession of Edward Whymper
From Nearest the Pole, by Commander Peary. By permission of Hutchinson and Co.
SECTIO.\7AL MAPS
1. SPITSBERGEN . . . . . 12
2. CAPE CHELYUSKIN . . . . .84
3. THE LENA DELTA . . . . . . 10G
4. BERING STRAIT . . . . 128
5. THE PARRY ISLANDS . . . . \1\
6. GREENLAND .... 272
ROUND ABOUT
THE NORTH POLE
CHAPTER I
SPITSBERGEN
Iceland — Greenland — America — Sebastian Cabot — Robert Thome — The
North-east Passage — Willoughby — Chancellor — Borough — The North
Cape rounded — The White Sea reached — The First Arctic Search Ex-
pedition— Pet and Jackman — Brunei — Cornelis Nai — Barents reaches
77° 20' — Second voyage of Nai — The Samoyeds — Rijp, Jacob Van
Heemskerck and Barents — Bear Island discovered — Spitsbergen dis-
covered— The Dutch reach 79° 49' — Stephen Bennet— Welden — Jonas
Poole — Henry Hudson reaches 80° 23' — Poole starts the British whaling
trade — Baffin's voyages to Spitsbergen — Pellham winters at Green
Harbour.
THE story of the lands within the Arctic Circle is
a record of the brave deeds of healthy men.
This would seem to be true were we to take the story,
if we could, back to the days when man followed the
retreat of the glaciers, as he may in turn have to retreat
before them, such a condition of things being not beyond
the range of probability though it may be remote. For
the boundaries of the frozen north are not dependent on
a line of latitude, and have never been the same from
period to period, or even from year to year. In some
cases they have changed considerably within the
2 SPITSBERGEN
Christian era, and it is evident that the ice is not
eternal. The fossils declare that the climate round
the North Pole has varied greatly, and must in
comparatively recent ages have been comfortably
warm, so genial indeed that some people would have
us believe that men came from there in their last dis-
tribution. Not, however, with such migrants from
the far north do we concern ourselves, but with those
who have endeavoured to get there in historical times
by different lines of approach, as we follow the circle
round from east to west and note the record of each
section by itself.
Who was the first to sail to the northern seas we
know not. Suffice it for us that in 875 Ingolf the
jarl, from Norway, refusing to live under the sway of
Harold Haarfager, sighted Mount Oraefa. As he
neared the coast, overboard went the carved wood ;
and where the wood drifted ashore he founded Reik-
javik. But he was not the first in Iceland, for the
Irish monastery had been there for years when he
arrived, though the monks retired to their old country
when they found the Norsemen had come to stay.
Then the Icelander Gunnbiorn, driven westward in
a gale, sighted the strange land he called White Shirt
from its snowfields, which Eric the Red, following a
long time afterwards, more happily renamed. " What
shall we call the land ? " he was asked. " Call it Green
Land," replied Eric. " But it is not always green ! "
" It matters not : give it a good name and people will
come to it ! "
Then the Norsemen worked further south. In 986
Bjarni sighted what we now call America, and in 1000
'
From a photo
THE SUMMIT OF ORAEFA
To face page 2
.
GREENLAND COLONISED 3
came the voyage of Leif Ericson, who, on his way
down the mainland, landing again and again, gave the
names to Helluland, Markland, Vinland — in short,
the Viking discovery of the New World.
Greenland, like the eastern coast of the continent,
was duly colonised, its two chief settlements being one
just round Cape Farewell, the other further north on
the same coast. In those days the island, or chain of
islands beneath an ice-cap, as many think it is, would
appear to have had a milder climate than it has
now. The colonies throve, their population becoming
numerous enough to require a series of seventeen
bishops, the last one dying about 1540, to superintend
their spiritual welfare. But the Eskimos, in their
migration from Asia across the Arctic islands, arrived
in the country before the middle of the fourteenth
century and gradually drove the Norsemen down-
wards, the northern colony coming to an end in 1342
owing to the enemy attacking during a visitation of
the Black Death.
Meanwhile Iceland, which touches the Arctic Circle
in its northernmost point, and extends but half as far
south of it as Greenland, increased in prosperity as a
sort of aristocratic republic, and produced more ver-
nacular literature than any country in Europe, in which,
as might be expected, the story of Greenland and the
American colonies was kept so well to the fore that
it became as familiar among the people as a nursery
tale. Thither, from Bristol, in February, 1477, went
Columbus ; and thence it was he returned to seek a
patron for his western voyage across the Atlantic.
The first voyage of Columbus in 1492 gave a great
4 SPITSBERGEN
stimulus to maritime discovery, and many were the
projects for searching the seas for a new route to the
east. Of these the most important was that sub-
mitted to Henry VII by John Cabot, of Bristol.
Much has been written, on slender and confusing
evidence, as to the share in its success due to him and
to his son, the more famous Sebastian ; and, to be brief,
we cannot do better than follow Anderson, who, in his
Origin of Commerce, ingeniously evades the difficulty
by speaking, commercially, of " Cabot and Sons."
The Bristol firm, then, in 1497 despatched their ship
Matthew to the westward and discovered and took
possession of Labrador and the islands and peninsulas in
the mouth of the St. Lawrence, the district being at first
known as the New Found Land, a name afterwards
restricted to the largest island. And they had their
reward, as shown in the Privy Purse accounts of
Henry VII, where an entry of the 10th August, 1497,
appears — " To hym that found the new isle, £10."
Surely not an excessive honorarium for the finding of
a continent.
In 1498 another voyage of the same ship by way of
Iceland, in which some attempt seems to have been
made to colonise the newly discovered territories, re-
sulted in the discovery of Hudson Strait and a visit to
Labrador, judging by the finding of the deer in herds,
the white bears, and the Eskimos who are not known
to have ever crossed into the island of Newfoundland.
This was not the only English vessel to appear in
these parts at that time, for in the same year the Privy
Purse accounts record a gift of £30 to Thomas Bradley
and Launcelot Thirkill for going to the New Isle,
COLUMBUS
To face page 4
THE FIRST NORTH-EAST VOYAGE 5
adding that Launcelot had already received £20 " as
preste " for his ship going there.
It is evident that the fisheries were found to be
worth working, for no less than fifty Spanish, French,
and Portuguese ships were engaged in them in 1517,
the year of Sebastian Cabot's disputed voyage to
Hudson Bay. Ten years afterwards Robert Thorne, of
Bristol, wrote to the King, mentioning this voyage and
suggesting three sea routes to Cathay — by the north-
west, as Sebastian had attempted, by the north over
the Pole, and by the north-east — and, in 1547, when
Sebastian returned to England for good, after his long
service with Spain, he again, as the first Governor of
the Company of Merchant Adventurers, took up this
Cathay question, which had frequently been raised,
and fitted out, as a commencement, an expedition to
the north-east.
The ships were built at Bristol specially for the
purpose, and they were sheathed with lead, the first
so treated in this country. This sheathing of ships was
not the only innovation we owe to the most scientific
seaman of his time, for in his famous ordinances for the
voyage many excellent new things are enjoined, in-
cluding the keeping of a log and journal, which date
from this expedition. There were three vessels, the
Bona Espcranza, of one hundred and twenty tons,
Captain Sir Hugh Willoughby ; the JEdivard Bona-
venture, one hundred and sixty tons, Captain Richard
Chancellor ; and the Bona Confidcntia, ninety tons,
Captain Durfourth. In Chancellor's ship, as master,
was the best navigator of the fleet, whose monu-
mental brass in Chatham Church is noteworthy for its
6 SPITSBERGEN
epitaph : " Here lieth buried the bodie of Steven
Borough, who departed this life ye xij day of July in
ye yere of our Lord 1584, and was borne at Northam
in Devonshire ye xxvth of Septemb. 1525. He in his
life time discouered Moscouia, by the Northerne sea
passage to St. Nicholas, in the yere 1553. At his
setting foorth of England he was accompanied with
two other shippes, Sir Hugh Willobie being Admirell of
the fleete, who, with all the company of ye said two
shippes, were frozen to death in Lappia ye same
winter. After his discouerie of Roosia, and ye
Coastes thereto adioyninge — to wit, Lappia, Nova
Zemla, and the Countrie of Samoyeda, etc. : he fre-
quented ye trade to St. Nicholas yearlie, as chief pilot
for ye voyage, until he was chosen of one of ye foure
principall Masters in ordinarie of ye Queen's Matles
royall Nauy, where in he continued in charge of
sundrie sea services till time of his death."
The ships left in May, but did not remain long
together. On the 2nd of August Willoughby and
Durfourth separated from Chancellor in a storm off
the Lofodens, and after devious courses, that might
have led anywhere, were frozen in on the coast of
Lapland, where they wintered and died, as did all the
men with them. Chancellor, having waited at the
rendezvous in vain, crossed the Arctic Circle, rounded
the North Cape — so named by Borough — and found
his way into the White Sea. While his ship was in
winter quarters near where Archangel now is, he made
a sledge journey to the Czar at Moscow, which led
to the formation of the Muscovy Company and the
beginning of England's Russian trade ; and through
THE FIRST ARCTIC SEARCH EXPEDITION 7
his meeting there with the Persian Ambassador came
about the mission, of Anthony Jenkinson to the Shah,
which opened up for us the Persian trade. Never was
a voyage more successful. With it began the foreign
commerce of this country, and from it dates the rise
of our mercantile marine.
In 1556 Borough, in the Scarchthrift, persevered
further east, and, passing between Novaya Zemlya and
Waigatz Island, through the strait that bears his name
spelt differently, entered the Kara Sea. Next year in
the same ship he was given the command of the first
Arctic Search Expedition, its object being to discover
what had become of Willoughby. Of one ship, the
Confidentia, he obtained news in an interview with a
man who had bought her sails, but the full story of
the disastrous end of the voyage remained a mystery
until the Russians found the ships and bodies and
Willoughby 's journal, and took the ships round to the
Dwina. Then for the first time did people realise
what it meant to battle with an Arctic winter without
preparation, and many were those who withdrew their
interest in the frozen north, preferring tropical dangers
to the possibility of such accumulating miseries as the
journal records in due order in its matter-of-fact way,
its last entry being the terribly suggestive — " Unknowen
and most wonderful wild beasts assembling in fearful
numbers about the ships."
With Stephen Borough in the Chancellor voyage
was Arthur Pet — or Pett, a name not unknown in the
navy— who, after two centuries, has become notable
again through a strange discovery. In search of the
much-desired passage by the north-east he sailed from
8 SPITSBERGEN
Harwich on the 31st of May, 1580, in the George, of
forty tons, accompanied by Charles Jackman, in the
William, of twenty tons. His orders were to avoid
the open sea and keep the coast in sight all the way
out on the starboard side, and William Borough-
Stephen's brother, afterwards Comptroller of the Navy
— gave him certain instructions and notes.
Arranging with Jackman, whose little vessel sailed
badly, to wait for him at Waigatz, Pet went ahead
and endeavoured to pass through Burrough Strait, but
meeting with trouble from the ice, missed the passage,
and working round Waigatz to the south, entered the
Kara Sea through Yugor Strait, or as it used to be
called after him, Pet Strait. Coasting eastward with
the mainland in sight, he was, as might be expected,
much hampered by the heavy pack. On being joined
by the little William he made for the northward, seek-
ing a way to the east, but the " more and thicker was
the ice so that they could go no further," and, after
talking the matter over on the 28th of July, Pet and
Jackman reluctantly decided to return to Waigatz
and there decide on what should be done.
Their way back was difficult. They became shut in
so that " they could not stir, labouring only to defend
the ice as it came upon them." For one day they
were clear of it, but next day, the 16th of August,
they were encumbered again, though they got out of
the trouble by sailing between the ice and the shore,
which was a new experience. In this way they just
scraped through Pet Strait, and bore away in the open
sea to Kolguiev, both vessels grounding for a time on
the sands to the south of that island. On the 22nd of
THE FIRST DUTCH VOYAGE 9
August, two days afterwards, the William parted from
the George in a dense fog, while Pet brought his ship
home and dropped anchor at Ratcliff on Boxing Day.
The Dutch had for some time been trying to out-
strip the English on this route to the far east. In
1565 they had settled at Kola, and about thirteen
years afterwards had established the factory at the
mouth of the Dwina on the site of Nova Kholmo-
gory, generally known as Archangel. In 1584 Olivier
Brunei, their energetic emissary in Russia, sailed on
the first Dutch Arctic discovery expedition. He tried
in vain to pass through Pet Strait, and the ship, with
a valuable cargo of furs and mica, was wrecked on its
homeward voyage at the mouth of the Petchora.
Ten years elapsed, and then there sailed from the
Texel the expedition of Cornelis Nai, in which the
Mercury, of Amsterdam, was commanded by Willem
Barents. Barents — really Barentszoon, the son of
Bernard — sighted Novaya Zemlya, with which his name
was to be thenceforth associated, on the 4th of July,
and coasting along its mighty cliffs, peopled with their
myriad seabirds, passed Cape Nassau ten days later.
Thence reaching 77° 20', and thus improving on John
Davis's record for the highest north, he struggled
through the ice to the Orange Islands and back, some
twenty-five miles, during which he tacked eighty-one
times and thereby sailed some seventeen hundred geo-
graphical miles. Failing to proceed further, he came
south, and off Pet Strait — named by the Dutchmen
Nassau Strait — fell in with the other two ships returning
from their unsuccessful attempt to cross the Kara Sea.
Next year a fleet of seven vessels under Nai left the
10 SPITSBERGEN
Mars Diep on another endeavour to get through to
China. One of the two chief commissioners on board
was the famous Van Linschoten, who had been on the
previous voyage, and the chief pilot was Barents, who
was in the Winthont (Greyhound) with Jacob van
Heemskerck as supercargo. Arriving at Pet Strait
they found it so blocked with ice that no passage was
possible, and Barents, in search of information, went
ashore on the mainland south of the strait and made
friends — in a way — with the Samoyeds, whose appear-
ance, as described by Gerrit de Veer, was " like that of
wild men," dressed as they were in deerskins from head
to foot, those of importance wearing caps of coloured
cloth lined with fur ; for the most part short of stature,
with broad flat faces, small eyes, and bow legs ; their
hair worn long, plaited, and hanging down their backs.
They were evidently suspicious of the Dutchmen,
who did their best to be friendly. The chief had
placed sentinels all round to see what the new-comers
were about and note everything that was bought and
sold. One of the sentinels was offered a biscuit, which
" he with great thanks took and ate, and while he ate
it he still looked diligently about him on all sides,
watching what was done." Their reindeer sledges were
kept ready — "that run so swiftly with one or two
men in them that our horses were not able to follow
them." They were unacquainted with firearms, and,
when a musket was fired to impress them, "ran and
leapt like madmen," but calmed down as soon as they
saw there was no malicious intention, to wonder much
more, however, when the man with the gun aimed at a
flat stone he placed as a mark, and. fortunately, hit and
SAMOYEDS AND THEIR DWELLINGS
To face page 10
THE DUTCHMEN AND THE SAMOYEDS 11
broke it. The meeting ended satisfactorily; "after that
we took our leaves one of the other with great friend-
ship on both sides, and when we were in our pinnace
we all put off our hats and bowed to them, sounding
our trumpet ; they in their manner saluting us also,
and then went to their sledges again."
Barents was by no means convinced that the strait
was impassable, and held out against the opinion of
the others for some days, but with the firm ice
stretching round in all directions he had to give in,
and on the 15th of September the fleet began the
voyage home. Much had been expected, and the re-
sult was so conspicuous a failure that the States '
General abandoned any further attempt at a north-
east passage on their own account, but decided to
offer a reward to any private expedition that proved
successful. Whereupon the authorities and merchants
of Amsterdam fitted out two vessels for a third
voyage, giving the command of one to Jan Corne-
liszoon Rijp, and that of the other to Jacob van
Heemskerck, with Barents as chief pilot.
The ships left the Dutch coast on the 18th of May.
Four days afterwards they were off the Shetlands,
going north-east. On the 9th of June they discovered
an island, on which they landed. Here they saw a
prodigious white bear, which they went after in a boat,
intending to slip a noose over her neck, but when they
were near her she looked so strong that their courage
failed, and they returned to the ships to fetch more
men, and what seems to have been quite an armoury
of " muskets, harquebusses, halberds and hatchets."
Accompanied by another boat they attacked this
BEAR ISLAND 13
of the cliffs, that tower up perhaps four hundred
feet from the water, with a thin layer of soil in which
the scurvy-grass and a few other plants thrive amaz-
ingly, though the island's complete flora contains but
forty species — such is Bear Island, the stepping-stone
to Spitsbergen, of which Jonas Poole took possession
in 1609 for the Muscovy Company.
Lying east of the influence of the Gulf Stream,
the range of temperature is of the widest. Often
the island is unapproachable owing to the ice, some-
times it is even now as hot as Welden found it in 1608,
when, in June, "the pitch did run down the ship's
sides, and that side of the masts that was to the sun-
ward was so hot that the tar did fry out of it as
though it had boiled." That was a great year for
Welden, for he killed a thousand walruses in less than
seven hours and took a young one home with him,
" where the king and many honourable personages
beheld it with admiration, the like whereof had never
before been seen alive in England."
Poole did much useful work in these seas, but is now
little heard of, most of the surviving interest in such
matters being concentrated on Henry Hudson, who
was in the same service at the same time. Hudson
was, perhaps, a grandson of Alderman Henry Hudson,
one of the founders of the Muscovy Company, but
nothing is really known of him beyond his being a
captain in the Muscovy Company, who, on the 19th of
April, 1607, took the sacrament at St. Ethelburga's,
in Bishopsgate Street, with his son and crew " and the
rest of the parishioners." That he was a parishioner
may be true, but that all the ten members of the crew
14 SPITSBERGEN
were so is unlikely. Anyhow, they were outward
bound for Japan and China by way of the North Pole,
and sailed from Gravesend on the 1st of May.
Where he went is not clear in detail, as his latitudes
are seldom correct and his longitudes are not recorded.
He sighted Greenland north of Iceland, and, shouldered
off by the ice barrier, left it somewhere about Franz
Josef Fjord, working easterly by the edge of the
ice to Spitsbergen. Here he sailed round Prince
Charles's Foreland and went north, passing Hakluyt
Headland, which he named, reaching on the 13th of
July, 80° 23', " by observation." He saw many whales,
but found his way blocked by ice ; and after many
attempts, assuring himself that there was no passage
hereabouts to the north, sailed southwards for Bear
Island. On leaving this he seems to have gone west,
possibly to the coast of Greenland again, for on his
way home he lighted upon Hudson's Touches, now
known as Jan Mayen Island, the principal cape of
which bears the name of Hudson's Point — which may
be either Hudson's or Rudston's (after the Rudston
mentioned in Baffin's fourth voyage) — while another is
known as Young's Foreland, perhaps after the James
Young who was the first in the ship to sight the coast
of Greenland on the outward journey. He dropped
anchor in the Thames on the 15th of September all
well. He had not crossed the Pole, nor did he find
Spitsbergen stretching up to 82°, as he said, its most
northerly point being miles further south ; but he
had gone beyond Van Heemskerck's furthest north and
found a fishing ground for whales and walruses which
proved of great commercial value.
FRANZ JOSEF FIORD
To face page 14
THE WHALING TRADE BEGINS 15
In 1610, Poole, finding that he could not land on
Bear Island owing to the ice, stood away to the north-
west, reached Spitsbergen, and worked along the
western side to Hakluyt Headland, where the ice
barred further advance. On his way up and down the
coast he gave many of the capes and bays the names
they still bear, and generally did so well that on his
return he was put in the place of Hudson, who had
left the service two years before, and made a sort of
special commissioner by the Muscovy Company " for
certain years upon a stipend certain " to make further
discoveries round Spitsbergen and to ascertain whether
there was an open sea further northward than had
already been found. In addition to searching for the
open polar sea, he was to convoy the Mary Margaret,
in which were six Biscay ners " expert in the killing of
the whale," to Bear Island, and thence to Whale Bay in
Spitsbergen. In short, Poole was to start the British
whaling trade, the Mary Margaret being the first
British vessel to be employed in that lucrative but
hazardous occupation ; and she was under the com-
mand of Thomas Edge, whose name is lborne by
Edge's Island.
The beginning was so promising that in 1613, two
years afterwards, a fleet of seven vessels went out to take
part in the fishery and clear away the foreigners who
had come to share in the good fortune ; the company
claiming the islands on the ground of their purely
imaginary discovery by Willoughby, the Dutch resting
their claim on the real discovery by Van Heemskerck.
In this fleet as chief pilot was William Baffin — his
second recorded voyage. By him, who as usual kept
16 SPITSBERGEN
his eyes open, we have the first description of the
Spitsbergen glaciers. He was at the time — the 29th of
July — in Green Harbour in Ice Fjord. " One thing
more I observed," he says, "in this harbour which I
have thought good also to set down. Purposing on a
time to walk towards the mountains, I, and two more
of my company, ascended up a long plain hill, as we
supposed it to be ; but having gone a while upon it, we
perceived it to be ice. Notwithstanding we proceeded
higher up, about the length of half a mile, and as we
went saw many deep rifts or gutters on the land of ice,
which were cracked down through to the ground, or, at
the least, an exceeding great depth ; as we might well
perceive by hearing the snow water run below, as it
does oftentimes in a brook whose current is somewhat
opposed with little stones. But for better satisfaction
I brake down some pieces of ice with a staff I had
in my hand, which in their falling made a noise on
each side much like to a piece of glass thrown down
the well within Dover Castle, whereby we did estimate
the thickness or height of this ice to be thirty fathoms.
This huge ice, in my opinion, is nothing but snow,
which from time to time has for the most part been
driven off the mountains ; and so continuing and in-
creasing all the time of winter (which may be counted
three-quarters of the year) cannot possibly be con-
sumed with the thaw of so short a summer, but is only
a little dissolved to moisture, whereby it becomes more
compact, and with the quick succeeding frost is con-
gealed to a firm ice."
Next year he was out again in the Thomasine, one of
a fleet of thirteen vessels, and in endeavouring to pass
BAFFIN ON GLACIERS 17
to the north-east, reached Wijde Bay, where at the
point of the beach at the entrance he " set up a cross
and nailed a sixpence thereon with the king's arms,"
probably the neatest property mark in history. Thence
he went on to the entrance to Hinlopen Strait, complet-
ing the journey along the north of the main island. It
was on this voyage that he endeavoured to find his
longitudes by observing the moon, for Baffin was the
first who attempted to take a lunar at sea.
Year by year the fishery increased, and the whale
fishers multiplied as if the sea were a goldfield, the
monopoly being respected until 1618, when the Dutch,
who had all along prospered more than the rest, proved
too strong for the English, and a compromise was
arrived at by which the different harbours were
allotted to the different nations for the processes
necessary in the preparation of the whale products for
shipment. But it was purely a summer industry.
There was no colony, and it did not seem as though
there would be one, for no man willing to winter in
the place could be found. Vainly were rewards offered
to those who would venture. In the north was the
ever-present barrier of ice, more distant some years
than others, but always there to come south and hold
the islands in its grip when the fishery was over, and
those who came early and those who stayed late saw
enough of the wintry landscape to make them doubt
if life were possible under such conditions.
Then the idea, not new to Englishmen, that colonies
should be started by criminals, was acted upon, and
the Muscovy Company procured the reprieve of a
batch of prisoners under sentence of death and landed
18 SPITSBERGEN
them in Spitsbergen under promise of a free pardon,
a handsome reward, and full provisions and suitable
clothes if they would remain there for a continuous
twelve months. But, as the ship that brought them
was preparing to return to London, "they conceived
such a horror and inward fear in their hearts" that
they besought the captain to take them back that they
might be hanged rather than perish amid such desola-
tion ; and the captain " being a pitiful and a merciful
gentleman, would not by force constrain them to stay,"
and brought them home again, when the company-
who could do no less — procured them a pardon. One
captain — of a different disposition — had left nine men
behind him, all of whom perished miserably ; and
another, in 1C30, left eight others, apparently through
causes beyond his control, whose adventure was to
form one of the most interesting episodes in Arctic
story.
It was on the 15th of August in that year that the
Salutation sent Edward Pellham and his seven com-
panions ashore to kill reindeer for the ship's provisions
on her voyage home. Taking with them two dogs, a
snap-hance, two lances, and a tinder-box, they landed
near Black Point, between Green Harbour and Bell
Sound, and, "laying fourteen tall and nimble deer
along," camped for the night. During the night
the weather changed and brought in the ice between
the shore and the ship, and in the morning the ship
had gone. The boat's crew made for Green Harbour,
thinking she would put in there to pick them up, but
she failed to appear, being due to leave the country in
three days, and after a fruitless attempt to catch her at
PELLHAM'S WINTER QUARTERS 19
Bell Sound, they eventually took up their quarters
there on the 3rd of September.
Here was one of the so-called tents of the whale-
fishers. " This," says Pellham, " which we call the
tent, was a kind of house built of timber and boards
very substantially, and covered with Flemish tiles, by
the men of which nation it had in the time of their
trading thither been built. Four-score foot long it is
and in breadth fifty. The use of it was for the coopers,
employed for the service of the company, to work,
lodge, and live in, all the while they make casks for the
putting up of the train oil." As this was too large for
their comfort, they very sensibly built another within
it. " Taking down another lesser tent therefore (built
for the landmen hard by the other, wherein they lay
whilst they made their oil), from thence we fetched our
materials. That tent furnished us with one hundred
and fifty deal boards, besides posts or stanchions and
rafters. From three chimneys of the furnaces wherein
they used to boil their oil, we brought a thousand
bricks : there also found we three hogsheads of very
fine lime, of which stuff we also fetched another hogs-
head from Bottle Cove, on the other side of the sound,
some three leagues distant. Mingling this lime with
the sand of the sea-shore, we made very excellent good
morter for the laying of our bricks : falling to work
thereon, the weather was so extreme cold as that we
were fain to make two fires to keep our morter from
freezing. William Fakely and myself, undertaking the
masonry, began to raise a wall of one brick thickness
against the inner planks of the side of the tent.
Whilst we were laying of these bricks, the rest of our
20 SPITSBERGEN
company were otherwise employed every one of them :
some in taking them down, others in making of them
clean and in bringing them in baskets into the tent.
Some in making morter, and hewing of boards to build
the other side withal, and two others all the while in
flaying of our venison. And thus, having built the
two outermost sides of the tent with bricks and morter,
and our bricks now almost spent, we were enforced to
build the two other sides with boards ; and that in this
manner. First we nailed our deal boards on one side
of the post or stanchion to the thickness of one foot :
and on the other side in like manner : and so filling up
the hollow place with sand, it became so tight and
warm as not the least breath of air could possibly
annoy us. Our chimney's vent was into the greater
tent, being the breadth of one deal board and four foot
long. The length of this our tent was twenty foot
and the breadth sixteen ; the height ten ; our ceiling
being deal boards five or six times double, the middle
of one joining so close to the shut of the other that no
wind could possibly get between. As for our door,
besides our making it so close as possibly it could shut ;
we lined it moreover with a bed that we found lying
there, which came over both the opening and the shut-
ting of it. As for windows, we made none at all, so that
our light we brought in through the greater tent, by
removing two or three tiles in the eaves, which light
came to us through the vent of our chimney. Our
next work was to set up four cabins, billeting ourselves
two and two in a cabin. Our beds were the deer skins
dried, which we found to be extraordinary warm, and a
very comfortable kind of lodging to us in our distress."
THE FIRST WINTERING 21
For fuel they knocked to pieces seven old boats left
ashore by the ships, storing the wood over the beams
of the tent so as to make a sort of floor protecting the
interior from snow driven in under the tiles, and, in
addition, they broke up a number of empty casks. To
make the wood last as long as possible they hit upon a
device for keeping the fire in — " when we raked up our
fire at night, with a good quantity of ashes and of
embers, we put into the midst of it a piece of elm
wood, where, after it had lain sixteen hours, we at our
opening of it found great store of fire upon it, whereupon
we made a common practice of it ever after : it never
went out in eight months together, or thereabouts."
Upon the 12th of September a small quantity of
drift ice came into the sound, on a piece of which they
found two walruses asleep, when " William Fakely
being ready with his harping iron, heaved it so strongly
into the old one that he quite disturbed her of her rest :
after which, she, receiving five or six thrusts with our
lances, fell into a sounder sleep of death." The young
one, refusing to leave her mother, was also killed ; and
a week afterwards another walrus fell a victim ; but
even with these the store of provisions was inadequate.
To make the food last, they put themselves on an
allowance of one good meal a day, except on Wednes-
days and Fridays which were fasting days devoted to
whale sundries — "a very loathsome meat," says Pell-
ham, in brackets — later on, for four days in the week
they fed upon " the unsavoury and mouldy fritters, and
the other three we feasted it with bear and venison."
" But," continues the narrative, " as if it were not
enough for us to want meat, we now began to want
22 SPITSBERGEN
light also ; all our meals proved suppers now, for little
light could we see ; even the glorious sun (as if unwill-
ing to behold our miseries) masking his lovely face
from us, under the sable veil of coal-black night." But
they were equal to the emergency. " At the begin-
ning of this darksome, irksome time, we sought some
means of preserving light amongst us ; finding there-
fore a piece of sheet lead over a seam of one of the
coolers, that we ripped off and made three lamps of it,
which, maintaining with oil that we found in the
coopers' tent, and rope-yarn serving us instead of
candle-wicks, we kept them continually burning."
Cheerful and resourceful as they were, their fits of de-
pression were not infrequent. "Our extremities being
so many, made us sometimes in impatient speeches
to break forth against the causers of our miseries ; but
then again, our consciences telling us of our own evil
deservings, we took it either for a punishment upon us
for our former wicked lives ; or else for an example of
God's mercy in our wonderful deliverance: humbling
ourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God, we
cast down ourselves before him in prayer, two or three
times a day, which course we constantly held all the
time of our misery."
Their prospects got worse, but they never lost a
little hope. " The new year now began : as the days
began to lengthen, so the cold began to strengthen ;
which cold came at last to that extremity, as that it
would raise blisters on our flesh, as if we had been
burnt with fire, and if we touched iron at any time it
would stick to our fingers like bird-lime : sometimes if
we went but out of doors to fetch in a little water, the
THE SUN REAPPEARS 23
cold would nip us in such a sort that it made us as sore
as if we had been beaten in some cruel manner."
Provisions were running low ; the men began to talk
of famine, and the outlook became daily gloomier until
the 3rd of February. " This proved a marvellous cold
day ; yet a fair and clear one ; about the middle
whereof, all clouds now quite dispersed and night's
sable curtain drawn, Aurora with her golden face
smiled once again upon us, at her rising out of her
bed ; for now the glorious sun with his glittering beams
began to gild the highest tops of the lofty mountains.
The brightness of the sun and the whiteness of the
snow, both together, were such as that it was able to
revive even a dying spirit. But to make a new addi-
tion to our new joy, we might perceive two bears (a she
one with her cub) now coming towards our tent ;
whereupon we, straight arming ourselves with our lances,
issued out of the tent to await her coming. She soon
cast her greedy eyes upon us, and with full hopes of
devouring us she made the more haste unto us ; but
with our hearty lances we gave her such a welcome as
that she fell down and biting the very snow for anger."
Then more bears came to be eaten ; then the birds
began to arrive, and the foxes to come out of their
winter earths to be trapped to the number of fifty ;
then the reindeer returned ; and then, on the 25th May,
two ships of Hull came into the sound from which a
boat's crew landing unperceived came close up to the
tent and shouted "Hey!" And Ayers, the only man
at the moment in the outer tent, shouted " Ho !" -and
Pellham and his shipmates had proved it to be possible
to live through a winter in Spitsbergen.
CHAPTER II
SPITSBERGEN
(continued)
The summer town of Smeerenberg— Himkoff winters in North East Land —
Phipps reaches 80° 48'— Scoresby the elder reaches 81° 30'— Scoresby the
younger — Voyage of the Dorothea and Trent under Buchan and Franklin
—Parry reaches 82° 45' — Torell and Nordenskiold— Carlsen sails round
Spitsbergen— Swedish North Polar expedition under Nordenskiold —
Lament — The Diana coal mine — Leigh Smith — Conway.
THIS wintering of the Salutation men occurred
when the Spitsbergen fisheries were most flourish-
ing, the prosperity continuing for seven more years.
So lucrative was the trade that on Amsterdam Island
under Hakluyt Headland, within fifteen miles of 80°
north latitude, about as far from the North Pole as
St. Malo is from John o' Groat's, there sprang up as
a summer resort the Dutch village of Smeerenberg.
Such was the bustle produced by the yearly visit of
two or three hundred double-manned vessels, contain-
ing from twelve thousand to eighteen thousand men,
that this village of the farthest north was as busy as a
manufacturing town. The incitement of prices pro-
portionate to the latitude attracted hundreds of annual
settlers, who throve on the sale of brandy, wine,
tobacco, and sundries to the whale-fishers in shops of
all varieties, including bakehouses, where the blowing
of a horn let the sailors know that the bread had just
24
SMEERENBERG 25
been drawn hot from the oven. In fact, hot rolls and
every delicacy could be had in Smeerenberg, which the
Dutch averred was as flourishing as Batavia, founded
by them a few years before. And when winter was
just about due every man — and woman — went back to
Holland. But the life of Smeerenberg was a short
and a merry one, for in 1640 the shore fisheries were
failing, and a year or so afterwards the lingerers of its
last season left it for good, clearing out from its houses
of brick and wood, demolishing its furnaces, removing
its copper cauldrons and coolers and casks and every-
thing that could be taken away, and leaving it in
desolation to be occupied in the next and subsequent
summers by polar bears.
Like all seaside resorts it had its rival. Close by is
the Cookery-of-Haarlem, abandoned at the same time,
but rather more hurriedly. When Martens went there
on the 15th of July, 1671, he found four houses still
standing, in one of which were " several barrels or
kardels that were quite decayed, the ice standing in
the same shape the vessels had been made of : an anvil,
smith's tongs, and other tools belonging to the cookery,
were frozen up in the ice ; the kettle was still standing
as it was set, and the wooden troughs stood by it."
Behind these houses "are high mountains," he con-
tinues, " if one climbeth upon these, as we do on others,
and doth not mark every step with chalk, one doth not
know how to get down again : when you go up you
think it to be very easy to be down ; but when you
descend it is very difficult and dangerous, so that many
have fallen and lost their lives." Absurd as this chalk-
ing of the steps may seem, there have been many who
26 SPITSBERGEN
have taken the hint from the careful Martens when
climbing in Spitsbergen, and many who have regretted
not having done so.
In ordinary summers the west side of Spitsbergen is
clear of ice, not so the eastern side, the difference being
due to the Gulf Stream, which, though evidently fail-
ing, is traceable along the coast round Hakluyt Head-
land and up to the ice barrier. In addition to this
there is the general cause, whatever it may be, which
makes the western coasts of all Arctic lands, isolated
or not, warmer than the eastern. Greenland, for
instance, is more approachable in summer from Davis
Strait than from the Greenland Sea, Novaya Zemlya
from Barents Sea than from Kara Sea, and so on with
all the islands and peninsulas of Asia and America.
Hence all this whaling was confined practically to the
western harbours of West Spitsbergen, the largest of
the group of islands. The next largest, North East
Land, was never much visited except from Hinlopen
Strait, though the Russians from time to time took
some interest in the north and east harbours, and would
have taken more, for it abounded in reindeer, if the
ice had not made the landing an enterprise of some
difficulty.
On the east coast of North East Land, in 1743, a
Russian whaler was caught in the pack, and the mate,
Alexis Himkoff, remembering that a house had been
built there some years before, went on shore with his
godson, Ivan Himkoff, and two sailors, Scharapoff and
Weregin, in search of it, in case the ship should have
to be abandoned. They found the house, but, on
returning to the shore next morning, could see nothing
HIMKOFF IN NORTH EAST LAND 27
of the ship, which had apparently been carried away
and crushed in the ice. They had brought with them
a musket, a powder-horn with twelve charges of
powder, twelve bullets, an axe, a small kettle, a bag
with about twenty pounds of flour, a knife, a tinder-
box and tinder, a bladder of tobacco, and every man
had his pipe. That was their outfit.
The house was thirty-six feet in length, and eighteen
in height and breadth. It contained a small ante-
chamber about twelve feet broad, which had two doors,
one to close it from the outer air, the other admitting
to the inner room in which was a Russian stove, a kind
of oven without a chimney, serving at will for heating,
for baking, or for sleeping on. Realising that they had
a long stay before them, they began by shooting
twelve reindeer, one for each bullet. They then re-
paired the house, stopping up all the crevices with
moss ; and they then laid in a store of fuel from the
driftwood, there being no trees on the island. On the
beach they found some boards with nails in them, and
a long iron hook and a few other pieces of old iron.
And also there was a root of a fir tree in shape not
unlike a bow. Those were the materials they had to
make the best of.
A large stone served for an anvil, a pair of deer horns
did duty for tongs, and with these and the fire, the iron
hook was made into a hammer ; and then two of the
nails were shaped into spear-heads, which were tied to
sticks from the driftwood with strips of deerskin.
With these weapons they began by killing a bear,
whose flesh they ate, whose skin they kept, and whose
tendons they made into thread and a string for the
28 SPITSBERGEN
bow formed out of the root of the fir tree. More
nails were forged into arrow-heads, tied with sinew on
to light sticks cut with the knife, the shafts being
feathered from the feathers of seafowl. With these
weapons they shot, before they had finished, two hun-
dred and fifty reindeer, and they kept the skins, as they
did also those of a large number of blue and white
foxes, as we shall see in the sequel. In their own
protection they killed nine bears, the only one they
deliberately attacked being the first.
To be sure of keeping their fire alight they modelled
a lamp out of clay, which they filled with deer-fat,
with twisted linen for a wick ; but the clay was too
porous, the fat ran through it; so they made another
lamp of the same stuff, dried it in the air, heated it red
hot, and cooled it in a sort of thin starch made of flour
and water, strengthening the pottery by pasting linen
rags over it. The result was so successful that they
made a second lamp as a reserve. Some wreckage
gave them a little cordage and a quantity of oakum,
which came in for lamp-wicks. The lamp, like the
sacred fire, was never allowed to go out. To make
themselves clothes, they soaked skins in fresh water till
the hair could be pulled off easily, and rubbed them
well, and then rubbed deer fat into them until they
were pliant and supple. Some of the skins they pre-
pared as furs. Out of nails they, after many failures,
made awls and needles, getting the eyes by piercing the
heads with the point of the knife, and smoothing and
pointing them by rounding and whetting them on a
stone.
For six years they lived in this desert place. Then
PHIPPS AND LUTWIDGE 29
one of them, Weregin, died of scurvy, and their
gloomy forebodings as to which was to be taken next
were broken in upon by their sighting a ship, to which
they signalled with a flag made of deerskin. The
signal was seen and they were rescued ; and they took
back to Archangel two thousand pounds weight of
reindeer fat, their bales of skins and furs, their bow and
arrows and spears, and in short everything they pos-
sessed. And they arrived there on the 28th of Sep-
tember, 1749, comfortably off' from the value of the
goods they brought with them — the heroes of one of
the very best of true desert island stories.
Like most Russians they do not seem to have
suffered much from the cold or to have been incon-
venienced by the summer heat, which is also consider-
able. In 1773, on the 13th of June, when Phipps
and Lutwidge anchored in Fair Haven, round by
Amsterdam Island, they found the thermometer reach
58^° at noon and descend no lower than 51° at mid-
night, and on the 16th it rose in the sun to 89j° till a
light breeze made it fall almost suddenly ten degrees.
This was the expedition sent out to the North Pole,
mainly at the instigation of Daines Barrington, Gilbert
White's friend. The ships were the Racehorse and
Carcass ; and, as every one knows, or ought to know,
as midshipman with Captain Lutwidge went Horatio
Nelson, then a boy of fourteen, who was to figure
largely in the world, though on this occasion he did
nothing remarkable beyond attacking a polar bear,
whose skin he thought would make a nice present for
his father, and bringing his boat to the rescue when
one of the Racehorse boats was attacked by walruses.
30 SPITSBERGEN
For another thing the expedition is memorable, that
being that the useful apparatus for the distillation of
fresh water from sea water, known to every seafarer,
was first used on this voyage, Dr. Irving, its inventor,
being the surgeon of the Racehorse. Another item to
be noted is that Phipps had with him a Cavendish
thermometer, which he tried the day after he crossed
the Arctic Circle, and found that at a depth of 780
fathoms the temperature was 26°, while at the surface
it was 48°.
Phipps did all he could to go north, and, in
longitude 14° 59' east, reached 80° 48', the nearest to
the Pole up to then, but he was foiled by the ice
barrier, which he tried to penetrate again and again.
He got his ships caught in the ice and took to his
boats, thinking he would have to abandon them, when
fortunately the pack drifted south, and the vessels,
clearing themselves under sail, caught the boats up
and took them on board. Then he went along the
edge of the ice westward, and, finding no opening,
gave the venture up and sailed for home.
The next to do good work within this area was
William Scoresby the elder, whose only equal as a
whale-fisher was his son. To him we owe the inven-
tion of the crow's nest, that cylindrical frame covered
with canvas, entrance to which is given by a trap-hatch
in the base, reached by a Jacob's ladder from the top-
mast crosstrees, the conning-tower, so to speak, carried
since by every ship on Arctic service. He was also
the inventor of the ice-drill and many another imple-
ment and device used in Polar navigation ; and he it
was who sloped off his fore and main courses to come
WHALERS AMONG ICEBERGS
To face page 30
WILLIAM SCORESBY 31
inboard to a boom fitted to the foot, used by every
whaler, by which, in fact, you may know them. He
also, long before the A mcrica, discovered the advantage
of flat sails, and, in order to get his weights well down,
he filled his casks with water as ballast and packed
them with shingle, so that, instead of going out light,
he was in the best of trim, with a power of beating
to windward that took him to the fishing ground in
double quick time and further into the ice, when he
chose, than any of his competitors.
Out in the Resolution in 1806 he saw from his crow's
nest, in which he often spent a dozen hours at a stretch,
that below the ice-blink — the white line in the sky
which betokens the presence of ice — there was a blue-
grey streak denoting open water, and that the motion
of the sea around the ship must be due to a swell,
which could only come from open water to the north-
ward. On the 13th of May he started for this. By
sawing the ice, hammering at it, dropping his boats on
to it from the bow, sallying the ship — that is, rolling
her by running the crew backwards and forwards
across her deck — and, in fact, using every means he
could think of, he passed the barrier in the eightieth
parallel, and, on the 24th of June, attained 81° 30', the
farthest north ever reached by a sailing vessel in these
seas. On that day there was not a ship within three
hundred and fifty miles of the Resolution. The bold
venture proved a thorough success ; in thirty-two days
he filled up with twenty-four whales, two seals, two
walruses, and a narwhal — one of the most profitable
of his thirty voyages.
In this voyage the chief officer was his son, William
32 SPITSBERGEN
Scoresby the younger, whose Arctic Regions is the best
book ever written on the northern seas. Sent by his
father to Edinburgh University where he studied
almost every branch of natural and physical science, he
was thoroughly equipped for his task, and his practical
experience as a whaling captain and trained observer
stood him in such stead that his book is still the basis
of all scientific Polar research. His description of the
Spitsbergen coast as seen from a ship is as faithful to-
day as when he wrote it. " Spitsbergen and its islands,
with some other countries within the Arctic Circle,
exhibit a kind of scenery which is altogether novel.
The principal objects which strike the eye are innumer-
able mountainous peaks, ridges, precipices, or needles,
rising immediately out of the sea to an elevation of
3000 or 4000 feet, the colour of which, at a moderate
distance, appears to be blackish shades of brown, green,
grey and purple ; snow or ice, in strias or patches,
occupying the various clefts and hollows in the sides of
the hills, capping some of the mountain summits, and
filling with extended beds the most considerable valleys ;
and ice of the glacier form, occurring at intervals all
along the coast, in particular situations as already de-
scribed, in prodigious accumulations. The glistening or
vitreous appearance of the icy precipices ; the purity,
whiteness, and beauty of the sloping expanse formed
by their snowy surfaces ; the gloomy shade presented
by the adjoining or intermixed mountains and rocks,
perpetually covered with a mourning veil of black
lichens, with the sudden transitions into a robe of
purest white, where patches or beds of snow occur,
present a variety and extent of contrast altogether
FRANKLIN'S FIRST ARCTIC VOYAGE 33
peculiar ; which, when enlightened by the occasional
ethereal brilliancy of the Polar sky, and harmonised in
its serenity with the calmness of the ocean, constitute a
picture both novel and magnificent. There is, indeed,
a kind of majesty, not to be conveyed in words, in
these extraordinary accumulations of snow and ice in
the valleys, and in the rocks above rocks and peaks
above peaks, in the mountain groups, seen rising above
the ordinary elevation of the clouds, and terminating
occasionally in crests of snow, especially when you
approach the shore under the shelter of the impene-
trable density of a summer fog ; in which case the fog
sometimes disperses like the drawing of a curtain, when
the strong contrast of light and shade, heightened by a
cloudless atmosphere and powerful sun, bursts on the
senses in a brilliant exhibition resembling the produc-
tion of magic."
In 1818 there went out the first British expedition
prepared to winter in the north. The vessels were two
whalers bought into the navy, the Dorothea and Trent,
the first under the command of David Buchan, the
other under that of John Franklin. Neither officer
had been in the Arctic region before, but Buchan had
done excellent service in surveying Newfoundland, and
Franklin had been marked for special duty owing to his
work in Australian seas under his cousin, Matthew
Flinders, and for the manner in which on his way home
he had acted as signal officer to Nathaniel Dance in
that ever-memorable victory off the Straits of Malacca,
when the Indiamen defeated and pursued a French
fleet under Admiral Linois. Dance's report gave
Franklin a further chance of distinction, for it led to
34 SPITSBERGEN
his appointment to the Belter ophon, whose signal
officer he was during the battle of Trafalgar.
They were instructed to proceed to the North Pole,
thence to continue on to Bering Strait direct, or by the
best route they could find, to make their way to the
Sandwich Islands or New Albion, and thence to come
back through Bering Strait eastward, keeping in sight
and approaching the coast of America whenever the
position of the ice permitted them so to do. A nice
little programme. But they started too early in a bad
season ; they did not get so far north as Phipps ; they
made accurate surveys and other observations ; in
exploration they did little ; and they had many adven-
tures.
As they ranged along the western side of Spitsbergen
the weather was severe. The snow fell in heavy
showers, and several tons' weight of ice accumulated
about the sides of the Trent, and formed a complete
casing to the planks, which received an additional layer
at each plunge of the vessel. So great, indeed, was
the accumulation about the bows, that they were
obliged to cut it away repeatedly with axes to relieve
the bowsprit from the enormous weight that was
attached to it : and the ropes were so thickly covered
with ice that it was necessary to beat them with large
sticks to keep them in a state of readiness. In the
gale the ships parted company, but they met again at
the rendezvous in Magdalena Bay.
Later on, off Cloven Cliff, there was a walrus fight
begun by the seamen and continued by the walruses
when they found themselves more at home in the
water than on the ice. They rose in numbers about
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN
To face page 34
A FIGHT WITH WALRUSES 35
the boats, rushing at them, snorting with rage, en-
deavouring to upset them or stave them in by hooking
their tusks on the gunwales, or butting at them with
their heads. " It was the opinion of our people," says
Beechey, " that in this assault the walruses were led on
by one animal in particular, a much larger and more
formidable beast than any of the others ; and they
directed their efforts more particularly towards him,
but he withstood all the blows of their tomahawks
without flinching, and his tough hide resisted the entry
of the whale lances, which were, unfortunately, not
very sharp, and soon bent double. The herd was so
numerous, and their attacks so incessant, that there
was not time to load a musket, which, indeed, was the
only effectual mode of seriously injuring them. The
purser, fortunately, had his gun loaded, and the whole
now being nearly exhausted with chopping and stick-
ing at their assailants, he snatched it up, and, thrust-
ing the muzzle down the throat of the leader, fired
into him. The wound proved mortal, and the animal
fell back amongst his companions, who immediately
desisted from their attack, assembled round him, and
in a moment quitted the boat, swimming away as hard
as they could with their leader, whom they actually
bore up with their tusks and assiduously preserved
from sinking."
On one occasion Franklin and Beechey, when out in
a boat together, witnessed the launch of an iceberg.
They had approached the end of a glacier and were
trying to search into the recess of a deep cavern at
its foot when they heard a report as if of a cannon,
and, turning to the quarter whence it proceeded, per-
36 SPITSBERGEN
ceived an immense piece of the front of the cliff of ice
gliding down from a height of two hundred feet at
least into the sea, and dispersing the water in every
direction, accompanied by a loud grinding noise, and
followed by a quantity of water, which, lodged in the
fissures, made its escape in numberless small cataracts
over the front of the glacier. They kept the boat's
head in the direction of the sea and thus escaped
disaster, for the disturbance occasioned by the plunge
of this enormous fragment caused a succession of
rollers, which swept over the surface of the bay,
making its shores resound as it travelled along it, and
at a distance of four miles was so considerable that it
became necessary to right the Dorothea, which was then
careening, by instantly releasing the tackles which con-
fined her. The piece that had been disengaged wholly
disappeared under water, and nothing was seen but a
violent boiling of the sea and a shooting up of clouds
of spray like that which occurs at the foot of a great
cataract. After a short time it reappeared, raising its
head full a hundred feet above the surface, with water
pouring down from all parts of it ; and then, labouring
as if doubtful which way it should fall, it rolled over,
and, after rocking about for some minutes, became
settled. It was nearly a quarter of a mile round and
floated sixty feet out of the water, and making a
fair allowance for its inequalities, was computed to
weigh 421,600 tons.
There were frequent landings, often with difficulties
in the return, due generally to attempts at making a
short cut to the shore or across the ice. Of these
short cuts the very shortest was that made by one of
J~ •y&zy&:**-4 fafc v\ r- "rs^ ^
TT? Aft." nt- u AT c "
AMD " TTJTT'WT "
A DANGEROUS DESCENT 37
the sailors named Spinks, who was out with a party in
pursuit of reindeer. The ardour of the chase had led
them beyond the prescribed limits, and when the
signal was made for their return to the boat some of
them were upon the top of a hill. Spinks, an active
and zealous fellow, anxious to be first at his post,
thought he would outstrip his comrades by descending
the snow, which was banked against the mountain at
an angle of about 40° with the horizon, and rested
against a small glacier on the left. The height was
about two thousand feet, and in the event of his foot
slipping there was nothing to impede his progress until
he reached the beach, either by the slope or the more
terrific descent of the face of the glacier. He began
his career by digging his heels into the snow, the
surface of which was rather hard. At first he got on
very well, but presently his foot slipped, or the snow
was too hard for his heel to make an impression, and
he increased in speed, keeping his balance, however, by
means of his hands. In a very short time his descent
was fearfully quick ; the fine snow flew about him like
dust, and there seemed but little chance of his reach-
ing the bottom in safety, especially as his course was
taking him in the direction of the glacier. For a
moment he was lost sight of behind a crag of the
mountain, and it was thought he had gone over the
glacier, but with great presence of mind and dexterity,
" by holding water first with one hand and then the
other," to use his own expression, he contrived to
escape the danger, and, like a skilful pilot, steered into
a place of refuge amid a bed of soft snow recently
drifted against the hill. When he extricated himself
38 SPITSBERGEN
from the depths into Avhich he had been plunged he
had to hold together his tattered clothes, for he had
worn away two pairs of trousers and something more.
That was all his damage, and we shall meet with him
again in the west out with Franklin and Captain Back.
In the morning of the 30th of July the ships found
themselves caught in a gale with the ice close to lee-
ward. The only way of escaping destruction seemed
to be by taking refuge in the pack. It was a desperate
expedient rarely resorted to by whalers and only in
extreme cases. In the Trent a cable was cut up into
thirty-foot lengths, and these, with plates of iron four
feet square, supplied as fenders, and some walrus hides,
were hung around her, mainly about her bows ; the
masts were secured with extra ropes, and the hatches
were battened and nailed down. When a few fathoms
from the ice those on board searched with anxiety for
an opening in the pack, but saw nothing but an un-
broken line of furious breakers with huge masses heav-
ing and plunging with the waves and dashing together
with a violence that nothing but a solid body seemed
likely to withstand ; and the noise was so great that the
orders to the crew could with difficulty be heard. At
one moment the sea was bursting upon the ice blocks
and burying them deep beneath its wave, and the next,
as the buoyancy brought them up again, the water was
pouring in foaming cataracts over their edges, the
masses rocking and labouring in their bed, grinding
and striving with each other until one was either split
with the shock or lifted on to the top of its neighbour.
Far as the eye could reach the turmoil stretched, and
overhead was the clearness of a calm and silvery
THE SHIPS RUN INTO THE PACK 39
atmosphere bounded by a dark line of storm cloud
lowering over the masts as if to mark the confines
within which no effort would avail.
" At this instant," says Beechey, " when we were
about to put the strength of our little vessel in com-
petition with that of the great icy continent, and when
it seemed almost presumption to reckon on the possi-
bility of her surviving the unequal conflict, it was
gratifying in the extreme to observe in all our crew the
greatest calmness and resolution. If ever the fortitude
of seamen was fairly tried it was assuredly not less so
than on this occasion ; and I will not conceal the pride
I felt in witnessing the bold and decisive tone in which
the orders were issued by the commander of our little
vessel, and the promptitude and steadiness with which
they were executed by the crew."
The brig was steered bow on to the ice. Every man
instinctively gripped his hold, and with his eyes fixed
on the masts awaited the moment of concussion. In
an instant they all lost their footing, the masts bent
with the shock, and the timbers cracked below ; the
vessel staggered and seemed to recoil, when the next
wave, cur'ing up under her counter, drove her about her
own length within the edge of the ice, where she gave
a roll and was thrown broadside to the wind by the
succeeding wave which beat furiously against her stern,
bringing l;er lee in touch with the main mass and leav-
ing her weather side exposed to a floe about twice her
size. Battered on all sides, tossed from fragment to
fragment, nothing could be done but await the issue,
for the n.en could hardly keep their feet, the motion
being so £reat that the ship's bell, which in the heaviest
40 SPITSBERGEN
gale had never struck of itself, now tolled so continu-
ously that it had to be muffled.
After a time an effort was made to put the vessel
before the wind and drive her further into the pack.
Some of the men gained the fore-topsail-yard and let a
reef out of the sail, and the jib was dragged half up
the stay by the windlass. The brig swung into posi-
tion, and, aided by a mass under her stern, split the
block, fourteen feet thick, which had barred her way,
and made a passage for herself into comparative safety;
and after some four hours the gale moderated. Strained
and leaking the Trent had suffered much, but the
Dorothea had been damaged more ; and both returned
to Fair Haven, where it was found hopeless to con-
tinue the voyage, and thence, when the ships had been
temporarily repaired, they sailed for England. The
expedition had not done much, but it had gi/en their
Arctic schooling to Franklin, Beechey, and Back.
In May, 1827, Parry, in the Hccla, was forced to
run into the ice, but not quite in the same way as
Buchan did. He was beset for three weeks, and then,
getting clear, proceeded to the Seven Islands to the
north of Spitsbergen, on one of which, Wilden, he
placed a reserve of provisions ; the ship, after reaching
81° 5', going to Treurenberg Bay, in Hinlopsn Strait,
to await his return.
From here he made his dash for the Pole. He had
with him two boats of his own design, seven feet in
beam, twenty in length. On each side of the keel was
a strong runner, shod with steel, upon which the boat
stood upright on the ice. They were so built that they
would have floated as bags had they been stove in. On
0
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Q
Pi
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Cu
v
Ml
a
o
H
PARRY'S DASH FOR THE POLE 41
ash and hickory timbers, an inch by an inch and a half
thick, placed a foot apart, with a half-timber of smaller
size between each, was stretched a casing of waterproof
canvas tarred on the outer side and protected by a skin
of fir three-sixteenths of an inch thick, over this came
a sheet of stout felt, and over all a skin of oak of the
same thickness as the fir, each boat weighing about
fourteen hundredweight — that is the hull, as launched.
One of these boats was named the Enterprise, the other
the Endeavour. They were intended to be hauled by
reindeer, but the state of the ice rendered this imprac-
ticable and the men did the work themselves. Parry
took command of the Enterprise, the other being in
charge of Lieutenant James Clark Ross ; and, alto-
gether, officers and men numbered twenty-eight.
From Little Table Island, where they left a reserve
as they had done at Walden, they started for the north
— two heavy boats laden with food for seventy days
and clothing for twenty-eight men, with a compact
equipment including light sledges, travelling in a sea
crowded or covered with ice in every form, large and
small, over which they were dragged up and down
hummocks, round and among crags and ridges, along
surfaces of every kind of ruggedness, of every slope
and irregularity, the few flat stretches broken with
patches of sharp crystals or waist-deep snow ; through
lanes and pools of water with frequent ferryings and
transhipments, in sunshine and fog, and, strange to
say, frequently in pouring rain. They travelled by
night and rested by day, though, of course, there was
daylight all the time. " The advantages of this plan,"
says Parry, "which was occasionally deranged by cir-
42 SPITSBERGEN
cumstances, consisted, first in our avoiding the intense
and oppressive glare from the snow during the time of
the sun's greatest altitude, so as to prevent in some
degree the painful inflammation in the eyes called
snow-blindness which is common in all snowy coun-
tries. We also thus enjoyed greater warmth during
the hours of rest and had a better chance of drying our
clothes ; besides which no small advantage was derived
from the snow being harder at night for travelling.
When we rose in the evening we commenced our day
by prayers, after which we took off our sleeping dresses
and put on those for travelling, the former being made
of camlet lined with racoon skin, and the latter of
strong blue, box cloth. We made a point of always
putting on the same stockings and boots for travelling
in, whether they had dried during the day or not, and
I believe it was only in five or six instances that they
were not either still wet or hard frozen." When halted
for rest the boats were placed alongside each other,
with their sterns to the wind, the snow or wet cleared
out of them, and the sails, held up by the bamboo
masts and three paddles, were placed over them as
awnings with the entrance at the bow.
Progress was not great, sometimes fifty yards an hour,
occasionally twelve miles a day, that is on the ice, for
soon it was apparent that the distance gained by
reckoning was greater than that given by observation,
and Parry realised to his dismay that the pack was
drifting south while he was going north. But he
kept on till on the 21st of July he reached 82° 45',
which remained the farthest north for forty - nine
years.
O
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H
O
O
s
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O)
H
O
pa
01
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TORELL AND NORDENSKIOLD 43
During the last few days he had been drifting south
in the day almost as far as he had advanced north in
the night, and, having used up half his provisions, he
reluctantly abandoned the struggle as hopeless. " As
we travelled," he says, " by far the greater part of our
distance on the ice, three, and not infrequently, five
times over, we may safely multiply the road by 2j ;
so that our whole distance, on a very moderate cal-
culation, amounted to five hundred and eighty geo-
graphical miles, or six hundred and sixty-eight statute
miles ; being nearly sufficient to have reached the Pole
in a direct line."
In 1858 a Swedish expedition under Otto Torell
started from Hammerfest for Spitsbergen. He was
accompanied by A. Quennerstedt and Adolf Erik
Nordenskiold. They explored Horn Sound, Bell
Sound, and Green Harbour. In Bell Sound they
dredged with great success for mollusca ; they made a
botanical collection, chiefly of mosses and lichens,
found tertiary plant fossils, and, in the North Harbour,
carboniferous limestone beds with the tertiary plant-
bearing strata above them — in short, Nordenskiold
entered upon his long and fruitful study of Spits-
bergen geology. Three years afterwards Torell took
out another expedition, Nordenskiold going with him,
which was to explore the northern coast and then
make for the far north ; but the ice conditions kept
them in Treurenberg Bay, where they visited Hecla
Cove and found Parry's flagstaff. In the course of
their journeys they noticed in Cross Bay the first
known Spitsbergen fern, Cystopteris fragilis ; by the
side of a freshwater lake in Wijde Bay an Alpine
44 SPITSBERGEN
char was picked up ; and, at Shoal Point, Torell dis-
covered in a mass of driftwood a specimen of the un-
mistakable Entada bean, two and a quarter inches
across, brought there from the West Indies by the
Gulf Stream, as other specimens have been drifted to
European shores.
In 1864, the year that Elling Carlsen found the
navigation so open that he passed the Northern Gate
and sailed round Spitsbergen, Nordenskiold, at the
head of a small expedition, was at work in Ice Fjord,
and, unable to go north on account of the ice, rounded
South Cape, entered Stor Fjord, visited Edge's Land
and Barents Land, and from the summit of White
Mountain, near Unicorn Bay, rediscovered the west
coast of the island reported by Edge two hundred and
fifty years before. In 1868, as leader of the Swedish
North Polar Expedition in the Sofia, he reached
81° 42', in 17° 30' east, the highest latitude then
reached by a steam vessel, and his farthest north ; his
next Polar venture, four years afterwards, in the
Polhcm, ending in his having to winter in Mossel Bay,
where his generous endeavour to feed one hundred and
one extra men, who were ice-bound, on provisions
intended for his own twenty-four, would have ended in
disaster had he not been relieved by Leigh Smith in the
Diana.
The Diana was the steam yacht built for James
Lamont, in which, like Leigh Smith, he cruised for
several seasons in the Arctic seas, combining sport with
exploration in a truly admirable way. To these two
yachtsmen we owe much of our knowledge of Spits-
bergen, Novaya Zemlya, and Franz Josef Land, but we
THE DIANA COAL MINE 45
can only give them passing mention here. We must,
however, find room for Lament's useful find of the
coal mine in Advent Bay, from which he filled up the
Dianas bunkers. " When I paid a visit to the coal
mine," he says, " I found it quite a busy scene for a
quiet Arctic shore. The engineer and fireman directed
the blasting, my English hands quarried, while the
Norwegians carried the sacks down the hill. The old
mate, the many-sidedness of whose character I have
so much valued on my various voyages, was digging
away with the rest, though I am sorry that in the
sketch his weather-beaten face is turned away. All
the rest are portraits, and the reader will notice that
Arctic work is not done in the attractive uniforms
known to Cowes and Ryde. The coal-bed was about
three feet thick, and lay very horizontally between
two layers of soft, mud-coloured limestone. It was
harder to obtain than I anticipated, because saturated,
through all the cracks and interstices, with water which
had frozen into ice more difficult to break through
than the coal itself, thereby rendering these fissures
worse than useless in quarrying. This is tertiary coal,
and is of fair quality, but contains a good deal of
sulphur. When we began to burn it, so much water
and ice was unavoidably mixed with it that the
engineers had to let it drain on deck in the hot sun
and then mix it with an equal bulk of Scotch coal.
Consumed in this way the ten tons obtained in three
days was a useful addition to the fast-dwindling stock
on board."
While Nordenskiold was at Mossel Bay he attempted
a journey to the north, but was stopped by the ice
46 SPITSBERGEN
at Seven Islands, and returned round North East
Land. It took him five days to pass across the
twenty- three miles between Phipps Island and Cape
Platen over pyramids of angular ice up to thirty
feet high. On the coast, which he found extending,
as Leigh Smith had reported, much further to the
east than was shown on the charts, he met with the
inland ice ending in precipices from two thousand to
three thousand feet high. Ascending this ice they
had scarcely gone a quarter of a mile before one of
the men disappeared at a place where the surface was
level, and so instantaneously that he could not even
give a cry for help. When they looked into the hole
they found him hanging on to the drag-line, to which
he was fastened with reindeer harness, over a deep
abyss. Had his arms slipped out of the harness, a
single belt, he would have been lost. Along the level
surface every puff of wind drove a stream of fine snow-
dust, which, from the ease with which it penetrated
everywhere, was as the fine sand of the desert to the
travellers in the Sahara. By means of this fine snow-
dust, steadily driven forward by the wind, the upper
part of the glacier — which did not consist of ice, but
of hard packed blinding white snow — was glazed and
polished so that it seemed to be a faultless, spotless
floor of white marble, or rather a white satin carpet.
Examination showed that the snow, at a depth of four
to six feet, passed into ice, being changed first into a
stratum of ice crystals, partly large and perfect, then
to a crystalline mass of ice, and finally to hard glacier
ice, in which could still be observed numerous air
cavities compressed by the overlying weight ; and,
CON WAY'S EXPLORATIONS 47
when, as the surface thaws, the pressure of the en-
closed air exceeds that of the superincumbent weight,
these cavities break up with the peculiar cracking
sound heard in summer from the glacier ice that floats
about in the fjords. Occasionally broad channels were
crossed, of which the only way to ascertain the depth
was to lower a man into them, and frequently he had
to be hoisted up again without having reached the
bottom; such danger areas causing so circuitous a
route that much progress was impossible.
Prior to the explorations of Sir Martin Conway in
1896, it was supposed that this inland ice extended
over all the islands of the group, an area exceeding
twenty thousand square miles. He, however, proved
that so far as West Spitsbergen was concerned, this
was not the case. Crossing it he found much of the
interior a complex of mountains and valleys, amongst
which were many glaciers, as in Central Europe, but
with no continuous covering of ice, each glacier being
a separate unit with its own drainage system and
catchment area, the valleys boggy and relatively fertile,
the hillsides bare of snow in summer up to more than
a thousand feet above sea-level. In the rise of the
country from the sea it seems to have come up as a
plain which did not reach the level of perpetual snow,
so that as it rose it was cut down into valleys in the
usual way by the agency of water pouring off from
the plateau over its edge down a frost-split rock-face,
the valleys gently sloped, the head necessarily steep
owing to the face of the cliff being stripped off as the
waterfalls cut their way back.
Since Nordenskiold's first expedition we have learnt
48 SPITSBERGEN
much of the geology and physical features of Spits-
bergen ; and we hear no more of the poverty of its
flora and fauna. Now it has become a summer tourist
resort we are yearly increasing our knowledge of this
land of no thunderstorms, for centuries the largest
uninhabited area on the globe, the only considerable
stretch on which there is no trace of human occupation
before its discovery by the moderns in 1596, when it
was found by Barents and his companions.
CHAPTER III
NOVAYA ZEMLYA
Van Heemskerck and Barents reach Ice Haven — The ship in the ice — The
first crew to winter in the Arctic — The house the Dutch built — The bears
— The foxes — Intense cold — Twelfth Eve rejoicings — Preparations for
departure— Death of Barents— The boat voyage — Meeting with Rijp —
Admiral Jacob Van Heemskerck — Carlsen at Ice Haven — Finds the house
as described by De Veer — The relics at the Hague — Gardiner finds the
powder-flask — Gundersen finds the translation of the voyage of Pet and
Jackman — Second voyage of Hudson — His third voyage — De Vlamingh
— Russian explorers.
WE left Barents parting company with Rijp at
Bear Island, Rijp bound northwards. Barents,
taking his vessel eastwards, struck Novaya Zemlya at
Loms Bay, near Cross Bay, and bearing north-east-
wards reached the Orange Islands and rounded Cape
Mauritius. Steering south he got down into Ice Haven,
where at length, says De Veer, " the ice began to drive
with such force that we were enclosed round about
therewith, and yet we sought all the means we could to
get out, but it was all in vain : and at that time we had
like to have lost three men that were upon the ice to
make way for the ship, if the ice had held the course it
went ; but as we drove back again, and the ice also
whereon our men stood, they being nimble, as the ship
drove by them, one of them caught hold of the beak
head, another upon the shrouds, and the third upon the
mainbrace that hung out behind, and so by great
E 49
50 NOVAYA ZEMLYA
adventure by the hold they took they got into the ship
again, for which they thanked God with all their
hearts." The same evening, that of the 2Gth of August,
1596, they reached the west of Ice Haven — now known
as Barents Bay — where they were forced to remain,
being the first crew on record to spend a winter in the
Arctic regions and survive to tell the story.
To begin with, the ice gathered round the ship and
lifted her bow four feet out of the water. Endeavour-
ing to right her by clearing the ice away, Barents was
on his knees measuring the height she had to fall when
the ice broke with " such a noise and so great a crack
that they thought verily they were all cast away." As
she lay upright again they tried in vain with crowbars
and other tools to break off the piled-up ice, and next
day in a heavy snow the pressure became such that the
whole ship was borne up and so squeezed that " all that
was both about and in it began to crack, so that it
seemed to burst in a hundred pieces, which was most
fearful both to see and hear, and made all the hair of
our heads to rise upright with fear." The grip con-
tinuing, the vessel was driven up four or five feet and
the rudder squeezed off, which was replaced by a new
one, when she sank back into the water a few hours
afterwards owing to the ice drifting clear for a while.
Thus matters went on for a little time, the ship being
alternately lifted and released.
On the llth of September, as there was no hope of
escape, it was decided to build a house wherein to
spend the winter, and in seeking for a suitable position,
a mass of driftwood — " trees, roots and all " — was dis-
covered, " driven ashore from Tartaria, Muscovia, or
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THE HOUSE THE DUTCH BUILT 51
elsewhere," for there were no trees growing on the
land, "wherewith," says De Veer, "we were much
comforted, being in good hope that God would show
us some further favour ; for that wood served us not
only to build our house, but also to burn and serve us
all the winter long ; otherwise without all doubt we
had died there miserably with extreme cold."
The timber was collected and piled up in heaps that
it might not be hidden under the snow, and two sledges
were made on which to drag it to the site of the house.
This was heavy work in which all took part, four of
them in turn remaining by the ship, there being thir-
teen men to each party, five to each sledge, with three
to help and lift the wood behind " to make us draw the
better and with more ease," and at the end of the first
week of it the carpenter died, so that only sixteen were
left. But the wood was brought along day after day,
some to build with, some for fuel ; and the house was
built, the frost so hard at times that " as we put a nail
into our mouths, as carpenters do, there would ice hang
thereon when we took it out again and made the blood
follow " ; and when a great fire was made to soften the
ground, in order that earth might be dug to shovel
round the house, " it was all lost labour for the earth
was so hard and frozen so deep that we could not thaw
it, and it would have cost us too much wood."
The house was roofed with deals obtained by break-
ing up the lower deck of the fore part of the ship, and,
to make it weather-tight, it was covered with a sail on
which afterwards shingle was spread to keep it from
being blown off ; and the materials of the cabin yielded
the wood for the door. Inside, the house was made as
52 NOVAYA ZEMLYA
comfortable as possible, as shown in the illustration
given in De Veer's book in 1598. Low shelves, with
partitions between, along the side served for sleeping
places ; a cask on end with a square hole like a window
in the upper half was frequently used as a bath ; a
striking clock and a time-glass marked the passing of
the hours ; the large fire in the centre with its frame
and trivet and spit and copper pots and other kitchen
utensils served for warmth and cooking ; and over the
fire hung a large lamp beneath the chimney, which
terminated outside in a cask giving it the appearance of
a crow's nest ashore.
While the house was building, and as long as the
sun was above the horizon, there was much trouble
with the bears, whose daily visits were always produc-
tive of excitement. On the 26th of October, for
instance, the day after all the crew first slept in the
house, when the men had loaded the last sledge and
stood in the track-ropes ready to draw it to the house,
Van Heemskerck caught sight of three coming towards
them from behind the ship. The men jumped out of
the track-ropes, and as fortunately two halberds lay
upon the sledge, Van Heemskerck took one and De
Veer the other, while the rest ran to the ship, " and as
they ran one of them fell into a crevice in the ice,
which grieved us much, for we thought the bears would
have run unto him to devour him," but they made
straight after the others instead. " Meantime we and
the man that fell into the cleft of ice took our advan-
tage and got into the ship on the other side ; which the
bears perceiving, they came fiercely towards us that
had no arms to defend us withal but only the two
THE BEARS AND THE FOXES 53
halberds, gave them work to do by throwing billets of
firewood and other things at them, and every time we
threw they ran after them as a dog does at a stone that
has been cast at him. Meantime we sent a man down
into the caboose to strike fire and another to fetch
pikes ; but we could get no fire, and so we had no
means to shoot " -their firearms being matchlocks.
" At the last as the bears came fiercely upon us we
struck one of them with a halberd on the snout, where-
with she gave back when she felt herself hurt and went
away, which the other two, that were not so large as
she, perceiving, ran away."
When the bears had gone and the long night set in,
their place was taken by the white foxes, many of
these being caught in traps and furnishing skins for
clothes and flesh for meat — "not unlike that of the
rabbit" -that was "as grateful as venison." The 19th
of November was a great day. A chest of linen was
opened and divided among the men for shirts, " for
they had need of them." Next day they washed their
shirts, having evidently made the new ones in a hurry,
and, says De Veer, " it was so cold that when we had
washed and wrung them they presently froze so stiff
(out of the warm water) that although we laid them
by a great fire the side that lay next the fire thawed,
but the other side was hard frozen, so that we should
sooner have torn them in sunder than have opened
them, whereby we were forced to put them into the
boiling water again to thaw them, it was so exceeding
cold."
On the 3rd of December and the two following
days it was so cold that as the men lay in their bunks
54 NOVAYA ZEMLYA
they could hear the ice cracking in the sea two miles
away, and thought that icebergs were breaking on
each other ; and as they had not so great a fire as
usual owing to the smoke " it froze so sore within the
house that the walls and the roof thereof were frozen
two fingers thick with ice, even in the bunks in which
we lay. All those three days while we could not go
out by reason of the foul weather we set up the sand-
glass of twelve hours, and when it was run out we set
it up again, still watching it lest we should miss our
time. For the cold was so great that our clock was
frozen and would not go, although we hung more
weight on it than before."
The snow fell until it was so deep round the house
that on Christmas Day they heard foxes running over
the roof ; and the last day of the year was so cold that
" the fire almost cast no heat, for as we put our feet
to the fire we burnt our hose before we could feel the
heat, so that we had work enough to do to patch our
hose." On the 4th of January, "to know where the
wind blew we thrust a half pike out of the chimney
with a little cloth or feather upon it ; but we had to
look at it immediately the wind caught it, for as soon
as we thrust it out it was frozen as hard as a piece of
wood and could not go about or stir with the wind, so
that we said to one another how fearfully cold it must
be out of doors."
Next day, being Twelfth Eve, on which foreigners,
according to the old practice, hold the festivities now
customary in England on the following day, the men
asked Van Heemskerck that they might enjoy them-
selves, " and so that night we made merry and drank
PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE 55
to the three kings. And therewith we had two pounds
of meal, which we had taken to make paste for the
cartridges wherewith, of which we now made pancakes
with oil, and to every man a white biscuit, which we
sopped in wine. And so supposing that we were in
our own country and amongst our friends it comforted
us as well as if we had made a great banquet in our
own house. And we also distributed tickets, and our
gunner was king of Nova Zembla, which is at least
eight hundred miles long and lieth between two seas."
In time the sun reappeared — as also the bears — and
the rigours of the winter relaxing, the men, on the
9th of May, applied to Barents asking him to speak
to Van Heemskerck with a view to preparing for
departure. This, after two other appeals, he did on
the 15th of May, Van Heemskerck's answer being
that, if the ship were not free by the end of the month,
he would get ready to go away in the boats. The two
boats, or, to be exact, the boat and the herring skute,
were then repaired and made suitable for a long sea
voyage, and on the 13th of June were in proper con-
dition with all their stores ready. Then Van Heems-
kerck, " seeing that it was open water and a good west
wind, came back to the house again, and there he
spake unto Willem Barents (that had been long sick)
and showed him that he thought it good (seeing it was
a fit time) to go from thence, and they then resolved
jointly with the ship's company to take the boat and
the skute down to the water side, and in the name of
God to begin our voyage to sail from Nova Zembla.
Then Willem Barents wrote a letter, which he put
into a powder flask and hanged it up in the chimney,
56 NOVAYA ZEMLYA
showing how we came out of Holland to sail to the
kingdom of China, and what had happened to us."
Then Barents was taken down to the shore on a sledge
and put into one boat, the other sick man, Andriesz,
being placed in the other, and " with a west-north-west
wind and an indifferent open water " they set sail on a
voyage of over fifteen hundred miles among the ice,
over the ice, and through the sea.
Barents, though they little suspected it, had but a
few days to live. As they passed the northernmost
cape of Novaya Zemlya, " Gerrit," he said to De Veer,
"if we are near the Ice Point, just lift me up again.
I must see that point once more." They were amongst
the ice floes again ; soon they had to make fast to one ;
and then they became shut in and forced to stay there.
Next day their only means of safety lay in hauling
their boats up on to a floe, taking the sick men out on
to the ice and putting the clothes and other things
under them ; but after mending the boats, which had
been much bruised and crushed, they drifted into a
little open water and got afloat. On the 20th of June,
about eight in the morning it became evident that
Andriesz was nearing his end. " Methinks," said
Barents, in the other boat, when he heard of it, " with
me too it will not last long." But still his companions
did not realise how ill he was, and talked on uncon-
cernedly. Then he looked at the little chart which
De Veer had made of the voyage. Putting it down,
he said, " Gerrit, give me something to drink." And
no sooner did he drink than he suddenly died. Thus
passed away their chief guide and only pilot, than
whom none better ever sailed the northern seas.
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VAN HEEMSKERC1TS BOAT VOYAGE 57
Working their way down the west coast of the long
island, putting in every now and then in search of birds
and eggs, constantly in peril from the floating ice and
the bears, they slowly came south. When passing
Admiralty Peninsula they had to deal with a danger
of their own causing. They sighted about two hun-
dred walruses upon one of the floes. Sailing close to
them they drove them off, "which," says De Veer,
"had almost cost us dear, for they, being mighty
strong sea monsters, swam towards us round about our
boats with a great noise as if they would have devoured
us ; but we escaped from them by reason that we had a
good gale of wind, yet it was not wisely done of us to
waken sleeping wolves."
Day by day De Veer tells the story of that adven-
turous voyage, with its long succession of dangers and
disappointments, until they reached the mainland and
sent the Lapland messenger to Kola, who returned
with a letter from Jan Corneliszoon Rijp, who at
first they could not believe was the old friend from
whom they had parted at Bear Island ; and more
briefly he continues the story until Amsterdam was
reached on the 1st of November, when the survivors, in
the same clothes they wore in their winter quarters,
fur caps and white fox-skins, walked up to the house of
Pieter Hasselaer to report themselves on arrival and
received the hearty welcome they deserved.
Though Van Heemskerck had failed to make the
passage to the east by way of the north, he was
perhaps destined for greater fame on the far less
rigorous route. Like Nelson he went on an Arctic
expedition that failed, and then secured a place in
58 NOVAYA ZEMLYA
history by a sea-fight in Spanish waters, for which his
countrymen will never forget him. He it was who
as Vice- Admiral of Holland fought the Spanish fleet
at Gibraltar in the decisive battle of the 25th of
April, 1607, in which with his twenty-six vessels he
attacked Juan Alvarez Davila's twenty ships and ten
galleons. Early in the struggle he had his leg swept
off by a cannon shot, but he remained on deck till he
died, gaining the complete victory which rendered his
countrymen free from hindrance on the road to the
Indies round the Cape of Good Hope, of which for
so many years they made such profitable use. It is
customary to give all the credit of the Arctic voyage
to Barents on the ground that his captain was no
sailor, but Holland knows no better sailor than Jacob
Van Heemskerck of Gibraltar Bay.
On the 9th of September, 1871, Captain Elling
Carlsen, sailing in the Barents Sea, which he had
entered round Icy Cape, landed in Ice Haven and
found the house just as De Veer had described it.
There it had stood in cold storage for 274 years, never
having been entered by human foot since Van Heems-
kerck had shut the door. The bunks, the table, the
bath, the clock, in short everything, all in order,
as the orderly Dutchmen had left it. Never did a
voyage book receive such ample verification ; never did
the description of an island home stand the test better.
Carlsen, to begin with, knew nothing of De Veer or
Barents, but he set to work in a conscientious way
and recorded the results like a true archaeologist.
" Thursday, 14th," he wrote in his log, " Calm with
clear sky. Four o'clock in the morning we went
THE HOUSE REVISITED 59
ashore further to investigate the wintering place. On
digging we found again several objects, such as drum-
sticks, a hilt of a sword, and spears. Altogether it
seemed that the people had been equipped in a warlike
manner, but nothing was found which could indicate
the presence of human remains. On the beach we
found pieces of wood which had formerly belonged to
some part of a ship, for which reason I believe that a
vessel has been wrecked there, the crew of which built
the house with the materials of the wreck and after-
wards betook themselves to boats."
Bringing away a very large number of articles, he
resumed his voyage and landed at Hammerfest, where
Mr. E. C. Lister Kay, who happened to be there on a
yachting trip, bought them, thinking they would be re-
purchased from him, at the price he gave, for one of our
own museums. In this he was disappointed, and the
collection was taken down to his house in Dorsetshire,
where Count Bylandt, the Dutch Ambassador, happen-
ing to hear of it, called and bought it for his Govern-
ment, who placed it at the Hague in a room, the
exact imitation of that in Novaya Zemlya.
In July, 1876, Mr. Charles Gardiner, another Eng
lish yachtsman, when on a cruise in the Glow-worm in
Barents Sea, made a call at the house and brought
away many other relics, which he presented to the
Dutch, to be added to those at the Hague ; and
among them was the powder-flask hung in the
chimney, containing the paper mentioned by De Veer.
The previous August Captain Gundersen had been
there in the Norwegian schooner Rcgina. In one of
the chests he found two charts and what he described
60 NOVAYA ZEMLYA
as Barents's Journal. The journal proved to be a
manuscript Dutch translation of the story of the
voyage in 1580 of Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman.
In 1608, eleven years after Barents died, Henry
Hudson, in the Muscovy Company's service, was sent
to China by the north-east. He sailed on the 22nd of
April from St. Katharine's, near the Tower of London,
and on the 3rd of June passed the North Cape on his
way to Novaya Zemlya, which he reached near Cape
Britwin twenty-three days afterwards. For some con-
siderable distance he had skirted the ice pack, vainly
endeavouring to get through to the northward and
enter the Kara Sea round the Orange Islands.
This being impracticable he ranged southwards look-
ing for a passage through at Kostin Shar, which in the
Dutch map he had with him was marked as a strait
and proved to be a bay. Had he been able to go a
little further north than Cape Britwin he might have
found that Matyushin Shar, like a rift in the rocks,
divides the long island in half, though at that early
season the ice would have probably been blocking it.
From Kostin or thereabouts he departed for home, his
voyage failing almost at the outset, owing to his being
two months too early.
While off the coast he sent his boat ashore several
times. " Generally," he says, " all the land of Nova
Zembla that we have yet seen is to a man's eye a
pleasant land ; much main high land with no snow on
it, looking in some places green, and deer feeding
thereon ; and the hills are partly covered with snow
and partly bare " —rather a different picture from that
given by De Veer of what it was like in the winter.
HUDSON'S THIRD VOYAGE 61
De Veer, too, had committed himself to the statement
that there were no deer in the country, but here were
Hudson's men frequently coming upon their traces, and
on the 2nd of July reporting that they had seen "a
herd of white deer, ten in a company," bringing on
board with them a white lock of deer's hair in proof
thereof.
On his return Hudson left the service of the Mus-
covy Company. He went to Holland, and, early in
April, 1609, was sent out by the Amsterdam Chamber
of the Dutch East India Company. On the 5th of
May he rounded the North Cape, making for Novaya
Zemlya, and a few days afterwards reached the ice.
Here, according to Dutch accounts, his men mutinied,
but what happened during the trouble is not recorded.
Whether it was really owing to a mutiny, or, as is by
no means improbable, to secret instructions received at
his departure, Hudson, on the 14th, made sail for the
North Cape, passed it on the 19th, when he observed a
spot on the sun, and then went off westwards to New-
foundland, making direct apparently for the mouth of
the river now bearing his name, which was discovered
by Verrazano in March, 1524, and surveyed by Gomez
in the following year, and was at the time of Hudson's
visit British territory.
The reason for this astonishing change of route was,
perhaps, that on some of the charts of the period, as on
Michael Lock's planisphere, this river, the Rio de Gamas
or Rio Grande of the Spaniards, was made to com-
municate with what seems to be intended for Lake
Ontario, and this with the other lakes to the westward
was widened out into the waterway to the South Sea.
62 NOVAYA ZEMLYA
Thus Hudson drops out of our story at his first
mutiny, for he did not cross the Arctic Circle on his
fourth voyage, when his second mutiny ended his career
in the bay that bears his name, which, like the river
and the strait, was indicated on the maps years before
he went there.
In 1664 Willem de Vlamingh, the Dutch navigator,
or — to be cautious — the namesake of the Dutch navi-
gator, who thirty-one years afterwards found Dirk
Hartog's plate and named Swan River in West Aus-
tralia after the black swans, was in these regions and
rounded Novaya Zemlya into the Kara Sea, reaching so
far north that if his recorded latitude be correct he
must have sighted the Franz Josef archipelago, and,
contrary to the tendency of Arctic explorers, mistaken
land for a bank of mist or a group of icebergs. After
him neither Dutch nor English delay us, the opening
up of this continuation of the Urals being left to the
Russians, who found it first and named it — Novaya
Zemlya meaning simply New Land.
For years it was left to the Samoyeds and the walrus
hunters, whose persistent reports of deposits of silver in
its cliffs led to Loschkin's making his way round it and
spending two winters on its east coast. In 1768 Ros-
mysslof, also on silver bent, wintered in Matyushin
Shar, that wonderful waterway, ninety fathoms deep,
bounded by high hills and precipitous cliffs, winding so
sharply that ships have been into it for a dozen miles or
so and seeing no passage ahead have come out again to
seek it elsewhere. In 1807 came Pospeloff, with Lud-
low the mining engineer, to settle the silver question
once for all, and settle it they did by showing that
THE RUSSIAN EXPLORERS 63
everywhere the so-called silver was either talc or mica,
and naming Silver Bay ironically in memory thereof.
Fourteen years afterwards Liitke surveyed the west
coast, continuing during the next three summers ; and
in 1832 Pachtussoff arrived to undergo in the course of
his really admirable work the hardships and privations
of which he died.
CHAPTER IV
FRANZ JOSEF LAND
Austro-Hungarian expedition of 1872 — The voyage as planned — The drift of
the Tegetthqff—The polyglot crew — Discovery of Franz Josef Land —
Payer's description of an aurora — The sledge journeys — Crown Prince
Rudolf Land — Cape Fligely reached — Abandonment of the Tegetthqjf—
The boat voyage to Cape Britwin — Leigh Smith's expeditions — Loss of
the Eira — The retreat in the boats — Jackson in Franz Josef Land — His
excellent survey work — The Italian expedition under the Duke of the
Abruzzi — Cagni attempts to reach the Pole and is stopped at 86° 34' —
The return journey.
IN 1871 Weyprecht and Payer were out in the
cutter Isbjorn, pioneering for their intended voyage
to the eastward, which started next year in the Tegett-
hqjf', the famous Austro-Hungarian attempt of 1872
which may be described as an unintentional voyage of
unexpected discovery. The amount of credit due to
a man who starts to find one thing and lights upon
another has always been a contentious matter, and
this expedition afforded an extreme case for such
speculations. The plan was to go east-north-east, the
wintering places being undetermined, though they
might be Cape Chelyuskin, the New Siberian Islands,
or any land that might be discovered ; and a return
to Europe through Bering Strait lay among the
possibilities of the venture, as an endeavour was to
be made to reach the coast of Siberia in boats and
penetrate south down one of the large rivers of
64
THE WONDERFUL DRIFT 65
Northern Asia. What happened was that during the
afternoon of the 20th of August, when off the north-
west coast of Novaya Zemlya in 76° 22' north, 63° 3'
east, the ship was run into an ice-hole and made fast
to a floe, and during the night the ice, instead of part-
ing asunder, closed in and imprisoned her, so that she
never steamed or sailed again. In the ice and on the
ice she lay perfectly helpless, drifting with the floe,
and still in its grip when she was abandoned by her
crew on the 20th of May, two years afterwards.
It was a wonderful drift. North-easterly in the
main to begin with, then north-westerly, then easterly
to about 73°, then north, then west, in and out and
roundabout, till they reached much the same longitude
as they started from and then with a general tendency to
the northward. Autumn passed away ; the Polar night
set in ; and still they drifted ice-bound — a miscellaneous
company representative of the polyglot empire ; "on
board the Tegetthqff" says Payer, " are heard all the
languages of our country, German, Italian, Slavonic,
and Hungarian ; Italian is, however, the language in
which all orders are given," to which we should add
the Norwegian of Olaf Carlsen, the icemaster. During
the winter there was enough of occupation and amuse-
ment, though private theatricals were impossible, as
they would have had to be given in four languages to
be intelligible to the audience.
The short summer came and went, and August had
almost gone when — it was on the 30th, in 79° 43' — there
came a surprise. The rays of the sun were fitfully
breaking through the gloom when suddenly the glid-
ing mists rolled up like a curtain, revealing in the
66 FRANZ JOSEF LAND
north-west the outlines of a rocky coast, which in a
few minutes grew into a radiant Alpine land. The
shore, however, was unattainable, as a rush over the
icefield soon showed, but from the edge of the fissure
that barred any further progress they could make out
its hills and glaciers and imagine the green pastures of
its valleys. They called it Kaiser Franz Josef's Land,
and along it they drifted during September till its out-
lines faded as the wind began to drive the floe to the
south. But at the end of the month the direction of
the floe changed to the north-west, taking the Tegett-
koff up to 79° 58', her highest north, near enough to
one of the islands for an effort to be made to land.
Six started from the ship over the grinding, groaning,
broken walls of ice, and when they were out of sight
of the ship a mist settled down which cut them off
from the sight of land and then so closely enwrapped
them that they could see nothing. Advance they
found hopeless, and as they returned they lost their
way and were saved by the sagacity of a dog they had
with them. All through October the drift continued,
and it was not until forenoon of the 1st of November,
two months after sighting the country, that they
managed to get ashore. This was on Wilczek Island
in the same longitude as Admiralty Peninsula in
Novaya Zemlya, and in the same latitude as Mossel
Bay in Spitsbergen.
The sun had retired for the winter nine days before,
and it was by the light of the moon that they first
explored the unknown country. Little could be done,
and, as it was much too late for attempting to shift
from the ship to the shore, the winter had to be spent
THE AURORA OF THE COMING STORM 67
on board as the other had been. Through this winter,
as before, the auroral displays were remarkable, and
they are excellently described by Payer. Of one of
them, he says : " It is now eight o'clock at night, the
hour of the greatest intensity of the northern lights.
For a moment some bundles of rays only are to be
seen in the sky. In the south a faint, scarcely observ-
able, band lies close to the horizon. All at once it
rises rapidly and spreads east and west. The waves
of light begin to dart and shoot ; some rays mount
towards the zenith. For a short time it remains
stationary, then suddenly springs to life. The waves
of light drive violently from east to west ; the edges
assume a deep red and green colour and dance up and
down. The rays shoot up more rapidly ; they become
shorter ; all rise together and approach nearer and
nearer to the magnetic Pole. It looks as if there were
a race among the rays, and that each aspired to reach
the Pole first. And now the point is reached, and
they shoot out on every side, to the north and the
south, to the east and the west. Do the rays shoot
from above downwards, or from below upwards ? Who
can distinguish ? From the centre issues a sea of
flames. Is that sea red, white, or green ? Who can
say ? — it is all three colours at the same moment. The
rays reach almost to the horizon ; the whole sky is in
flames. Nature displays before us such an exhibition
of fireworks as transcends the powers of imagination
to conceive. Involuntarily we listen ; such a spectacle
must, we think, be accompanied with sound. But
unbroken stillness prevails, not the least sound strikes
on the ear. Once more it becomes clear over the ice,
68 FRANZ JOSEF LAND
and the whole phenomenon has disappeared with the
same inconceivable rapidity with which it came, and
gloomy night has again stretched her dark veil over
everything. This was the aurora of the coming storm
— the aurora in its fullest splendour."
Sledging was begun in March, Hall Island being first
visited, and, on the 26th, Payer, with six men, started
on his main journey up Austria Sound, reaching
Hohenlohe Island, where three men were left, and then
proceeding further north to Crown Prince Rudolf
Land. Off the southern promontory of this were
innumerable icebergs, up to two hundred feet in height,
cracking and snapping in the sunshine. The Midden-
dorf Glacier, with an enormous sea-wall, ran towards
the north-west ; layers of snow and rents in the sea-ice,
caused by icebergs falling in, filled the intervening
space. Into these fissures Payer and his men were
continually falling, drenching their canvas boots and
clothes with sea-water. One of the men was sent on
ahead to find a path by which the glacier might be
climbed, and discovering a fairly open road the summit
was gained across many crevasses bridged with snow,
three of those at the lower part needing but a slight
movement to detach the severed portions and form
them into bergs.
While resting on the glacier looking down on the
semicircular terminal precipice and the gleaming host
of bergs which filled the indentations of the coast, one
of the men reported that his foot was swollen and
ulcerated, and he had to be sent back to Hohenlohe
Island. Just as the others were setting off, the snow
gave way beneath the sledge, and down fell Zaninovich,
DOWN THE CREVASSE 69
the dogs and the sledge, while Payer was dragged back-
wards by the rope. The fall was arrested at a depth of
thirty feet by the sledge sticking fast between the sides
of the crevasse. Payer, on his face, the rope attaching
him to the sledge tightly strained and cutting into the
snow, shouted that he would sever the rope, but
Zaninovich implored him not to do so as the sledge
would then turn over and he would be killed ; hearing,
however, from Orel, that the man was lying on a ledge
of snow with precipices all around him and that the
dogs were still fast to the traces, Payer cut the rope,
and the sledge made a short turn and stuck fast again.
Then, telling Zaninovich that he must contrive to keep
himself from freezing for four hours, Payer and Orel
set off to run the six miles back to Hohenlohe Island.
Payer, as he went on ahead, threw off his bird-skin
clothes, his boots and his gloves, and ran in his stock-
ings through the snow. In an hour he reached the
camp, and leaving it unattended they all set off to the
rescue with a rope and a pole. Picking up his clothes
on the way, Payer and his men reached the crevasse ;
one of the party was let down by the rope, and finally
Zaninovich and the sledge and dogs were brought
from their dangerous position four hours and a half
after their fall.
The advance was then resumed along the west coast
of Crown Prince Rudolf Land round the imposing
headland they named Cape Auk — the rocky cliffs being
covered with little auks and other seabirds, enormous
flocks flying up and filling the air, the whole region
seeming to be alive with their incessant whirring — and
following the line of Teplitz Bay, Payer mounted one
70 FRANZ JOSEF LAND
of the bergs detached from a glacier and saw open
water with ice bounding it on the horizon. As the
sheet over which their course lay became thinner, and
threatened to give way beneath them, they had to open
up a track among the hummocks by pick and shovel ;
and when this failed they had to unload the sledge and
carry the things separately. At Cape Saulen they
camped for the night in the fissure of a glacier into
which they had to drag their baggage by a long rope ;
and next day — the 12th of April, 1874 — they went on
again and reached Cape Fligely, in 81° 50' 43", their
farthest north.
With great difficulty they made their way back to
the ship, a long, toilsome journey through snow and
sludge, with open water in places where there had been
ice, which made them fear the Tegetthoff might have
drifted away again. The imminent danger of starva-
tion was ended by their reaching their depot on Schonau
Island, whence Payer went on for the remaining twenty-
five miles alone with the dog-sledge, the two dogs
giving much trouble until they struck the old sledge
track almost obliterated by snow, when they raised
their heads, stuck their tails in the air, and broke into a
run. Halting on an iceberg for a meal, the berg cap-
sized, and in a moment Payer was begirt by fissures,
water-pools, and rolling blocks of ice, from which he
managed to escape. When he turned into the narrow
passage between Salm and Wilczek Islands, Orgel
Cape, visible at a great distance, was the only dark spot
on the scene. At once the dogs made for it, and about
midnight he arrived there. With an anxious heart he
began the ascent ; a barren stony plateau confronted
PAYER'S RETURN 71
him ; with every advancing step, made with increasing
difficulty, the land gradually disappeared and the
horizon of the frozen sea expanded before him ; no ship
was to be seen, no trace of man for thousands of miles
except a cairn with the fragments of a flag fluttering in
the wind, and a grave half covered with snow. Still
he climbed, and suddenly three masts emerged. He
had found the ship ; there she lay about three miles off,
appearing on the frozen ocean no bigger than a fly, the
icebergs and drifts around her having hidden her
amongst them. He held the heads of the dogs to-
wards her and pointed with his arm to where she lay ;
and they saw her, and away they went, to find all but
the watch asleep.
After another sledge journey north-westwards to
Mount Brunn, from which Richtofen Peak was sighted,
preparations were made for abandoning the ship and
returning home. The three boats left the Tegetthqff
on the 20th of May, but so slow was the progress over
the difficult route that at the end of every day in the
first week it was possible for Payer to go back to her
on the dog-sledge to replenish the stores which had
been consumed ; and at the end of two months of in-
describable effort the distance between the boats and
the ship was not more than eight statute miles. The
heights of Wilczek Land were still distinctly visible
and its lines of rocks shone with mocking brilliance in
the ever-growing daylight. All things appeared to
promise that after a long struggle with the ice there
remained for the expedition but a despairing return to
the ship and a third winter there with the frozen ocean
for their grave.
72 FRANZ JOSEF LAND
In the middle of July the fissures which had been
opening out around them became wider and longer,
progress reaching some four miles a day ; then the
north wind blew and the icefield commenced to drift
to the south, to drift again north-east when the wind
changed. Backwards and forwards, amid every variety
of weather, including heavy rain, the pack ice moved
until it changed to drift ice, and, on the 15th of August,
the much -tried company got afloat at last in open
water and laid their course for Novaya Zemlya, where
they fell in with two Russian schooners off Cape
Britwin.
The next to visit Franz Josef Land was Leigh Smith,
whom we met with in the Spitsbergen seas. Building
the Eira especially for Arctic service, he started in
1880, the year she was launched, on a cruise to Green-
land and thence eastwards, which took him to the west
and north-west of the ground gone over by the Aus-
trians. He surveyed the whole coast from 42° east to
the most westerly point seen by Payer, and sorted it
out into several islands, but found no trace of the
Tegetthqff, for where she had been left was open water.
Encouraged by the success of his visit, in which the
observations and collections were unusually good, he
returned in the Eira the following year to meet with
much more unfavourable ice conditions. Finding it
impossible to get westward of Barents Hook the Eira
was, on the 15th of August, made fast to the land floe
off Cape Flora, and six days afterwards she was nipped
and stove by the ice and slowly sank in eleven fathoms
of water. As she settled down the steam winch was
set to work, and by its means half a dozen casks of
LEIGH SMITH AT CAPE FLORA 73
flour and about three hundredweight of bread were
saved from the main hold ; and when nothing more
could be got from the lower deck the stores in the
after cabin were attacked, and within the two hours
from the discovery of the leak to the disappearance of
the ship, all these provisions and the boats and clothes
were safe on the ice ; and the sails were cut away, and
with them and some oars a tent was erected in which
all the company, twenty-five in number, took shelter.
A move was made next day to the land. On Cape
Flora a house was built mainly of earth and stones,
covered with sails, in which the winter was passed.
Fortunately the district abounds with bears and wal-
ruses, and the meat from these, boiled with vegetables,
and served out three times a day into twenty-five
plates made out of old provision tins, proved the right
sort of fare to keep every one in excellent health.
Thanks in a great measure to Bob, the retriever, the
larder was kept full ; but there being a shortness of
coal, recourse for fuel had to be made to rope and
blubber, so that no one could mistake the time when the
cooking was on. In fact, the odour and the smoke were
of great interest to the bears, who lingered about in-
tending to pay surprise visits, and the dog had always
to be sent in front of those leaving the house. One
day when out on his own account, Bob discovered a
school of walruses on the ice and reported the matter
in his own fashion, whereupon several of these were
shot, and after an exciting chase five were secured. In
January he found another school, of which three were
bagged and stowed alongside the house, although the
thermometer stood at forty below zero. On another
74 FRANZ JOSEF LAND
occasion he managed to tempt a bear up to the front
door, where it was promptly tumbled over, to his
evident satisfaction.
During the winter the party killed twenty-nine wal-
ruses and three dozen bears. Once, when only a fort-
night's meat was left, and things began to look serious,
no less than eight bears were killed in two weeks. At
the end of April the birds returned, and in June the ice
was cleared away by a gale and walruses were seen
swimming on the water in hundreds. Never did a
wintering party meet with better fortune, and never
was one better managed.
On the 21st of June they started from Cape Flora
in four boats, six men each in three of them, seven in
the other, to reach the open sea, leaving in the house
six bottles of champagne in case any person might
look in, besides a few other things, and blocking up
the door to keep out the bears. Before the boats
reached the ice they crossed eighty miles of water, and
then six weeks' hard labour began, zigzagging through
channels, hauling over hurnmocky floes, sailing through
pools, halting for days on a floe with no water in sight,
but never doubting that a clearance would come. On
leaving the ice they steered for Novaya Zemlya, at first
in a gentle breeze, which rapidly increased to a gale in
a heavy thunderstorm, so that the boats, with their
sails of tablecloth and shirt-tail, had to be carefully
handled as they scudded before it at such a pace that
within twenty-four hours of leaving the ice they were
drawn up all safe on the beach at the entrance of
Matyushin Shar. Next morning the Dutch exploring
schooner, Willem Barents, was descried coming out of
JACKSON'S SURVEY 75
the strait, and before the schooner was reached by the
boats there came round the point the Hope, which
Sir Allen Young, of the Pandora, had brought out as
a rescue ship for them. They had been driven by the
gale to the very spot on the very day they could be
best relieved.
From the reports of Weyprecht and Payer it
appeared that the north-east of Franz Josef Land
would make an excellent base for a start for the North
Pole, and Leigh Smith was led to the same view by
his visit to Alexandra Land, but along the south he
had made so many changes in Payer's map that a
further examination of the region was evidently desir-
able. To effect this by a careful survey of the coasts,
Frederick G. Jackson landed near Cape Flora on the
7th of September, 1894, and began his residence of a
thousand days. Setting to work in a businesslike way,
and recording his progress in similar style, he disin-
tegrated the land masses into a group of some fifty size-
able islands, through which run two main waterways,
his British Channel and Payer's Austria Sound, both
opening out northwards into Queen Victoria Sea ;
Crown Prince Rudolf Land being a large island at
the northern entrance of Austria Sound, Wilczek Land
at its southern entrance being about twice its size.
He defined the coast - lines for over eighty miles of
latitude, extending to fifteen degrees of longitude as
far west as the most westerly headland, Cape Mary
Harmsworth, and so cutting up Franz Josef Land that
not even an island now bears the name, which is used
only as that of the archipelago. Never in Arctic
exploration was work rendered more evident than in
76 FRANZ JOSEF LAND
the difference between the map as Jackson found it
and as he left it.
The Windward, with the expedition on board,
sighted the land on the 25th of August, but, stopped
by intervening ice, could not reach the coast until a
fortnight afterwards, the landing taking place at Cape
Flora, close to Leigh Smith's house, which was found
with the roof off. Not far away Jackson established
his headquarters, quite a little settlement, though the
expedition consisted of only eight men. Just as Leigh
Smith found no remains of the Tegetthoff, so Jackson
found no trace of the Eira. It had been intended
that the Windward should return after putting the
party ashore, but, shut in by the ice, she had to re-
main during the first winter, getting away safely next
year, to return in 1896 and take away Nansen, who, as
we shall see further on, ended his long land journey
here. On her 1897 trip she departed with the members
of the expedition all well, so that neither ship nor man
was lost, the only serious casualties being among the
dogs and the Russian ponies which did such excellent
service.
Two years afterwards, in July, 1899, the deserted
settlement was visited by the Duke of the Abruzzi,
in his expedition in the Stella Polare, on his way to
the north, a few days before he met with his short
imprisonment in the ice in British Channel. His was
a successful run all the same, for he was in 82° 4', to
the northward of Crown Prince Rudolf Land, or^ as
it is now called, Prince Rudolf Island, twenty-seven
days out from Archangel. Passing Cape Fligely — the
latitude of which was afterwards found to be sixteen
CAGNI STARTS NORTHWARD 77
miles south of the 82° 5' Payer had made it — and
rounding Cape Auk, the Stella Polare went into
winter quarters in Teplitz Bay, whence Captain
Umberto Cagni started, on the llth of March, 1900,
for his forty-five days' march towards the North Pole.
It was a great disappointment to the Duke to have
to stay with the ship instead of leading this well-
equipped and thoroughly organised sledge attempt,
but owing to an accident two of his fingers had been
so severely frost-bitten that they had to be amputated,
and, unless a second winter was to be spent in the ice,
a start was imperative before he could recover from
the operation. Thus all he could do was to assist at
the first encounter of the sledges with the pressure
ridges and wish Cagni the longest possible journey and
a safe return. There was every appearance of the
journey being a difficult one, for on the first day a
stoppage had to be made every quarter of a mile or
thereabouts for a road to be cut through the ridges
with ice-axes, while next day a new hindrance was
experienced in the young ice in the channels being too
thin at times to support the sledges, one of which began
to sink and was only extricated with difficulty, so that
only one sledge could be allowed on such ice at a time.
On the 13th of March the auxiliary sledge was sent
back, thus reducing the caravan to a dozen sledges and
ninety-eight dogs, which in a long line passed over
a vast plain covered with great rugged blocks of ice,
as though they had been thrown down confusedly by
a giant's hand to bar the way. The wind was north-
east, the cold intense, fifty below zero, not to be
particular to a degree or so, for, as Cagni says, when
78 FRANZ JOSEF LAND
the temperature is below twenty-two, and it is im-
possible to use a screen or a magnifying glass, the
mere fact of approaching to read the scale on an un-
mounted thermometer sends it up a couple of degrees,
and when the temperature is below fifty-eight an
approach makes a difference of three or four degrees.
So cold was it that the sleeping bags were as hard as
wood, and the men got into them after much effort,
not to sleep but to feel their teeth chattering for hours,
the only warm parts of the body being the feet clad in
long woollen stockings. " There are patches of ice on
our knees," says Cagni, " like horses' knee-caps, and we
have others, both large and small, sometimes thick
enough to be scraped off with a knife, everywhere, but
especially on our cheeks and backs and in all places
where the perspiration has oozed through."
Amid such surroundings the camp must have seemed
somewhat out of place. When a suitable site was
chosen the first sledge was stopped, and near it the
three other sledges of the third detachment were
drawn up at a distance of about ten feet from each
other. The sledges of the second detachment as they
came up formed a second line, those of the third form-
ing another. The tents were pitched between two
sledges, generally those in the centre, the guy ropes
being fastened to the sledge runners, those at the ends
to an ice-axe stuck in the ice. The sleeping bags were
then unpacked, the cooking stoves taken out of the
boats, and everything arranged under the tent. The
thin steel wire ropes to which the dogs were tethered,
when unharnessed, were stretched between the sledges
away from the tents. While the men were taking
THE DIFFICULT ROAD 79
the dogs out of the harness, which always remained
attached to the traces on the sledges, and tethering
them to the steel ropes, one of the guides took a
chosen victim to some distance from the camp, and
felled it with a blow from an ice-axe, then opened it,
skinned it quickly, divided it up into ten shares and
distributed these to the dogs, already destined to
undergo the same fate, these being the weakest and
most ailing — in short, this was the elimination of the
unfit.
On the 22nd of March the first detachment began
its return journey ; it consisted of Lieutenant Querini
and two men, and it was never heard of again. The
way northwards continued extremely difficult, with
channels and ridges plentiful and the road so rough
that the sledges began to break up in the bows and
runners, some at last so badly that their fragments had
to be used to repair the others with. On the 31st the
second detachment was sent back, consisting of the
doctor and two men, and it got safely to the ship. The
third detachment, consisting of Cagni with two Cour-
mayeur guides — Petigax and Fenoillet — and a sailor,
Canepa, all four Italians, made the final effort. That
day they were on level ice and covered seventeen miles,
but at night a snowstorm came on and there was
trouble. After a rest they pressed forward in rapid
marches amid bad weather over the drifting fields. On
the 12th of April while raising camp a strong pressure
piled up within a hundred yards of them a wall from
thirty-six to forty-five feet high, the highest ridge they
had seen. Enormous blocks rolled down towards them
with loud crashes after being thrown up by other
80 FRANZ JOSEF LAND
blocks, lifted to the brow of the ridge and rolled over
in their turn, raising a cloud of ice-dust in their fall,
the loud continual creaking of the pressure drowned by
the booming of the cascade which shook the ice for
yards around. These ridges were constantly forming,
most of them remaining, some of them subsiding as the
edges drifted apart, and the channels thus caused were
even more difficult to deal with, some having to be
passed over thin ice, some ferried over on small floes.
But they did not cross the track all along, and during
the last few days the travelling was easy.
On the 24th of April the long journey reached its
end. " At ten minutes past twelve," says Cagni, " we
are on our way to the north. The ice is like that of
yesterday, level and smooth, and, later on, undulating.
At first the dogs are not very willing to pull, but en-
couraged by our shouts and a few strokes, they advance
at a rapid pace, which they keep up during the whole
march. At five we meet with a large pressure ridge,
which almost surprises us, as it seems to us a century
since we have seen any ; we lost a quarter of an hour in
preparing a passage through and crossing it. Beyond
it the aspect of the ice changes ; the undulations are
more strongly marked, and large blocks and small
ridges indicate recent pressure, but luckily they do not
stop us or obstruct our way. Soon after six we come
upon a large channel running from east to west ; we
must stop. Beyond the channel is a vast expanse of
new ice, much broken up and traversed by many other
channels. Even if I were not prevented from doing
so, I would now think twice before risking myself in
the midst of them. If we did push forward on that
THE ITALIANS1 FARTHEST NORTH 81
ice, even for half a day, we would gain very few miles
and besides run the risk of losing a sledge. The dogs
are very tired, and we too feel the effects of yesterday's
strain. I therefore consider that it is more prudent to
stop here, and both the guides are of the same opinion.
The sun is unclouded. I bring out the sextant and
take altitudes of the sun to calculate the longitude
(65° 19' 45" E.) while Fenoillet and Canepa put the
sledges in order and pitch the tent in a sort of small
amphitheatre of hillocks which shelter us from the
north wind. On that farthest to the north, which is
almost touched by the water of the channel, we plant
the staff from which our flag waves. The air is very
clear ; between the north-east and the north-west there
stand out distinctly, some sharply pointed, others
rounded, dark or blue and white, often with strange
shapes, the innumerable pinnacles of the great blocks of
ice raised up by the pressure. Farther away again on
the bright horizon in a chain from east to west is a
great azure wall which from afar seems insurmount-
able." The latitude was 86° 34'.
The outward journey took forty-five days ; the home-
ward took sixty, and proved a perilous adventure
owing to the drift of the pack to the westward and its
breaking up as the weather became warmer and the
southern boundary was approached. At first there
was good promise. The dogs knew they were going
back, and followed the outward track so fast that the
men, failing to keep up with them, for the first time
took a seat on the sledges and were drawn along at
four miles an hour. Progress was rapid for a few days
owing to there being now only four sledges and, in a
G
82 FRANZ JOSEF LAND
considerable degree, to the intelligence of the leading
dog, Messicano. Ever since leaving Teplitz Bay this
small white dog, with the intelligent eyes and bushy
legs, had held the first place in the leading sledge
because he followed the man at the head of the convoy
better than the others, and now when the guide was
behind or on the sledge, Messicano took the track at
a gallop with his nose on the snow, losing the way now
and then, but finding it again, though to the men it
was often invisible. The time came, however, when
the old track had to be left for a better course to the
ship, and then difficulties of every sort had to be over-
come, the delays being such that dog after dog had to
be killed to keep away starvation, and it was only with
seven of them and two sledges that Prince Rudolf
Island was reached from the westward on the 23rd of
June. "The snow is wet, which is very bad for
dragging the sledges, as it sticks to the runners and
tires our dogs exceedingly ; we have still seven, but
only three that really pull (three to each sledge), for
Messicano is at the last extremity and can hardly hold
up the trace." Toiling on thus through the fog to Cape
Brorok a noise was heard in the distance like the
creaking caused by pressure among ice floes, and when
the fog lifted it was found that the sound was that of
the seabirds on the cliffs. Out on the icefield no signs
of life had been met with beyond the traces of a bear,
a seal that vanished, and a walrus that popped up
through thin ice to send Fenoillet scuttling off on his
hands and knees.
Meanwhile the ship, which had been seriously
damaged, had been made seaworthy. Liberated from
THE RETURN VOYAGE 83
her berth by mines of gunpowder and guncotton,
she sailed from Teplitz Bay on the IGth of August,
and, after further unpleasant experiences in the ice,
reached Cape Flora, where a call was made at Jack-
son's house in the vain hope of news of Querini ; and
thence, after more ice complications, Captain Evensen
took her to Hammerfest. Though, as in all Arctic
endeavour, conditions were against them, the employ-
ment of a Norwegian crew for the ship and an Italian
crew for the sledges had, under excellent management,
worked thoroughly well.
CHAPTER V
CAPE CHELYUSKIN
Chelyuskin reaches the cape — The Laptefs— Deschnefs voyage through
Bering Strait — Nordenskiold's voyages to the Yenesei — The Siberian
tundra — The voyage of the Vega — Nordenskiold rounds C'ape Chelyuskin
— Endeavour to reach the Siberian Islands— Liakhoff's discovery — The
Vega passes the Cape North of Captain Cook — Frozen in within six miles
of Cape Serdze Kamen — Completes the North-east Passage — Nansen's
voyage — The Fram — Her drift in the ice — Nansen and Johansen start
for the Pole — They reach 86° 13' G" — Their journey to Frederick Jackson
Island — The meeting with Jackson — Sverdrup's voyage to Spitsbergen.
I ^HE tundras and shores of Siberia abound with
-L obstacles to exploration, and yet a third of the
threshold of the Polar regions has been surveyed along
their line. No spot remains unvisited on the northern
margin of the Asiatic mainland, the northernmost
point of which is Cape Chelyuskin in 77° 36 '8', so that
the Arctic Circle sweeps inland for 770 miles to the
south of it — in other words the cape is practically half-
way between the Circle and the Pole.
It was chiefly from the land that the northern coast-
line was surveyed by the Russians, whose Arctic work
has been immense and thorough, though not marked by
any striking discoveries. Cape Chelyuskin was first
reached, in May, 1742, by the explorer whose name it
bears, after a sledge journey from the Chatanga, he
being at the time second in command to Khariton
Laptef, whose first expedition in 1739 ended in the loss
84
CAPE CHELYUSKIN
100 0 100 200 JOO 400 BOO
To face page 84
THE EXPLORERS OF NORTHERN SIBERIA 85
of his ship three hundred miles from his winter quar-
ters, to which he had to travel on foot, losing twelve
men by cold and exhaustion on the way. Within the
preceding four years the survey of the coast west of it
had been completed in four stages — from Archangel to
Yalmal (that is Land's End) ; from Yalmal to the Obi ;
from the Obi to the Yenesei ; from the Yenesei to
Cape Sterlegof. In 1735 Pronchistschef, from the
Lena, failed to round Cape Chelyuskin from the east,
and returned to the Olenek to die but two days before
his young wife, who was his companion on his perilous
voyage. Two years afterwards Dmitri Laptef began
his explorations east of the Lena which took him to
Cape Baranoff, thus joining up to the discoveries of
the sable -hunters made a century before, including
those of Deschnef, who, in 1648, sailed from the
Kolyma to Kamchatka and went through Bering
Strait more than thirty years before Bering was born.
Thus the route of the North-east Passage was known,
although no man had travelled the whole way either
by land or sea, before the task was undertaken by
Nordenskiold.
To begin with, Nordenskiold made two voyages to
the Yenesei. In the first voyage he left Tromsoe in the
Procven on the 14th of June, 1875, and reached what
he named Dickson Harbour at the mouth of the
Yenesei on the 15th of August. Sending back the
Proeven, which returned through Matyushin Shar, he,
with Lundstrom the botanist and Stuxberg the zoolo-
gist, and three walrus-hunters, embarked in a boat they
had brought out with them and proceeded up the
estuary into the river ; and during the first six hundred
86 CAPE CHELYUSKIN
miles they landed only twice. On the last day of the
month they caught up a steamer on which they became
passengers.
" We were yet," says Nordenskiold, " far to the
north of the Arctic Circle, and as many perhaps
imagine that the little-known region we were now
travelling through, the Siberian tundra, is a desert
wilderness covered either by ice and snow, or by an
exceedingly scanty moss vegetation, it perhaps may not
be out of place to say that this is by no means the
case. On the contrary, we saw snow during our
journey up the Yenesei only at one place, in a deep
valley cleft some fathoms in breadth, and the vegeta-
tion, especially on the islands which are overflowed
during the spring floods, is distinguished by a luxuri-
ance to which I have seldom seen anything compar-
able. Already had the fertility of the soil and the
immeasurable extent and richness in grass of the pas-
tures drawn forth from one of our walrus-hunters, a
middle-aged man who is owner of a little patch of
ground among the fells of Northern Norway, a cry of
envy at the splendid land our Lord had given the
Russian, and of astonishment that no creature pas-
tured, no scythe mowed, the grass. Daily and hourly
we heard the same cry repeated, and even in louder
tones, when some weeks after we came to the grand
old forests between Yeneseisk and Turuchansk, or to
the nearly uninhabited plains on the other side of
Krasnoyarsk covered with deep black earth, equal with-
out doubt in fertility to the best parts of Scania, and in
extent surpassing the whole Scandinavian peninsula.
This judgment formed on the spot by a genuine though
THE NORTH-EAST PASSAGE 87
illiterate agriculturist is not without interest in forming
an idea of the future importance of Siberia."
In fact, Siberia is particularly rich in mineral and
agricultural wealth, and this voyage, which opened up
the route to and from Europe by the natural outlets
to the north, was of such commercial promise that
the explorer received for it the special thanks of the
Russian Government. As, however, there were people
who looked upon it as an exceptional voyage in an ex-
ceptional year, Nordenskiold next season took another
voyage to the river, this time in the Ymer, carrying
the first instalment of merchandise so as to begin the
trade ; and he was followed in a few weeks by Captain
Joseph Wiggins, in the Thames, whose subsequent
voyages made the northern route well known.
Assured by the experience gained in these voyages
that the North-east Passage was possible to a steam
vessel of moderate size, Nordenskiold, in 1878, was
enabled to fit out the Vega, and sailed from Tromsoe
on the 31st of July. Three other vessels accompanied
her, two bound for the Yenesei, one for the Lena, the
rendezvous being Khabarova. All went well. On the
9th of August the Fraser and Express proceeded up
the Yenesei to discharge their cargoes and return to
Europe in safety ; next day the Vega and Lena left
for the eastward, and, after some risky navigation
among islands and through fog, lay for four days in
Actinia Haven, between Taimyr Island and the main-
land, vainly waiting for clear weather. Pushing on
through fitful fog they sighted a promontory in the
north-east gleaming in the sunshine, and rounding its
western horn anchored in a bay open to the north and
88 CAPE CHELYUSKIN
free from ice at the extremity of Cape Chelyuskin.
With the rounding of the most northerly point of the
Old World the first object of the expedition had been
attained. The salute fired in honour of the event
having frightened away the only polar bear who had
stood watching the ship from the western horn, some
of the party landed, the botanists to discover that
all the plants of the peninsula had apparently been
stopped on the outermost promontory when trying to
migrate further north. The flora was not extensive —
a few luxuriant lichens and twenty-three flowering
plants, eight of them saxifrages, most of them with a
tendency to form semi-globular tufts ; the fauna con-
sisted of the bear, a few seals, a walrus, two shoals of
white whales, some ducks and geese, and a number of
sandpipers. Not so long a list as was obtained at
other landings, but by no means a bad one for the
half-way house to the Pole.
After passing the cape the course was laid for the
New Siberian Islands, but ice prevented progress
in their direction beyond 77° 45', the highest north of
the voyage, and the ship had to work her way out by
the route she went in, thus losing a day, which had
serious consequences, though it proved the correctness
of Nordenskidld's theory that the water delivered by
the Siberian rivers is, for a few months, of sufficiently
high temperature to give a clear passage to vessels
content to keep near the coast. On reaching the
mouth of the Lena the ships parted company, Captain
Johannsen taking the smaller steamer up the river as
intended and bringing the news of the rounding of
Cape Chelyuskin and the promise of the North-east
LIAKHOFFS DISCOVERY 89
Passage being accomplished in one season, which was
not destined to be fulfilled.
Another attempt was then made by the Vega to
reach the islands to the north, but after sighting the
two most westerly of the group the shallow sea was
too crowded with rotten ice, and an idea of landing
on LiakhofF Island having to be given up for the
same reason, the course was altered so as to take the
ship round Svjatoi Nos (the Holy Cape), where in
April, 1770, Liakhoff had noticed the mighty crowd
of reindeer going south. Justly considering they must
have come over the ice from some northern land, he
went back on their tracks in a dog-sledge, discovering
two of the most southerly islands, and obtaining from
Catherine the Second as a reward the monopoly of hunt-
ing the foxes and collecting the ivory there from the
fossil mammoths he found in abundance.
Forced to keep to the channel along the coast, which
daily became narrower, the Vega reached Cape Che-
lagskoi, and when off this promontory Nordenskiold
saw the first natives during his voyage. Two boats
built of skin almost exactly similar to the oomiaks, or
women's boats, used by the Eskimos, came out to the
ship, the men, women, and children in them intimating
by shouts and gestures that they wished to come on
board. The Vega was brought-to that they might do
so, but as none of the Chukches could speak Russian
and none of the Swedes knew Chukche, the interview
was not so satisfactory as expected, though the uni-
versal language of pantomime with presents ensured a
favourable termination.
On the 12th of September the Vega passed Irkaipii,
90 CAPE CHELYUSKIN
the Cape North of Captain Cook, and by rounding it
Nordenskiold joined up with the westernmost limit of
the Arctic discoveries of the great navigator. Cook
tried to weather it in August, 1778, but was turned
back by fog and snow, and thinking it was " not con-
sistent with prudence to make any further attempts to
find a passage into the Atlantic this year in any direc-
tion, so little was the prospect of succeeding," he sailed
for Hawaii, where his intention of making the attempt
the ensuing summer came to nought owing to his
death.
On the 28th of September the Vegas progress for
the year was arrested by her being frozen in for the
winter on the eastern side of Kolyuchin Bay in the
northernmost part of Bering Strait, only six miles of
ice barring the way round Cape Serdze Kamen into the
open sea. During her detention of two hundred and
sixty-four days the scientific investigations of many
kinds that were undertaken were of lasting importance,
as they had been throughout, and when she was re-
leased on the 18th of July, 1879, to come home by way
of Yokohama, the collections and records she brought
with her were simply enormous. No better work with
greater results was done by any Arctic expedition
than during this successful voyage, which was too well
managed to have much adventure. For it Nordens-
kiold very justly claimed the reward of twenty-five
thousand guilders offered in 1596 by the States-General
of Holland, the endeavour to win which sent out Van
Heemskerck, Barents, and Rijp.
We have seen how the Dutchmen built their house
at Ice Haven mainly of the driftwood from the Siberian
ADOLF ERIK NORDENSKIOLD
To face page go
NANSEN'S VOYAGE 91
rivers. Similar wood from probably the same source is
found on the shores of Greenland and of almost all the
northerly islands of the Arctic Ocean. Further, the
Greenland flora includes a series of Siberian plants
apparently from seeds drifted there by some current.
Not only do trees and seeds travel by water from Asia
westward to America ; at Godthaab, for instance, on
the western coast of Greenland, there was found a
throwing-stick of a shape and ornamentation used only
by the Alaskan Eskimos ; and three years after the
foundering of the Jeannette to the north of the New
Siberian Islands there were found on the south-west
coast of Greenland a number of articles in the drift-ice
that must have come from the sunken vessel. For
these and other reasons it seemed clear to Fridtjof
Nansen that a current flowed at some point between
the Pole and Franz Josef Land from the Siberian
Arctic Sea to the Greenland coast, and so he set to
work to organise his daring expedition to strike this
current well to the eastward, trusting to its mercies to
take him to or near the Pole.
In 1893, when the Fram rounded Cape Chelyuskin,
Nansen had found the Kara Sea almost as open as
Nordenskiold had done, but had met with more diffi-
culties among the islands off the Taimyr Peninsula.
A famous vessel, the Fram, the first of her kind, built
specially for the ice to take her where it listed in the
hope that she would drift to discovery like the Tcgett-
hoff, and not to disaster like the Jeannette. The
general idea was Nansen's, the carrying out of the
idea was Colin Archer's. As Nansen says : " We must
gratefully recognise that the success of the expedition
92 CAPE CHELYUSKIN
was in no small degree due to this man." Plan after
plan did he make of the projected ship, model after
model did he prepare and abandon before he was
satisfied : and never was a ship more honestly built.
With her double-ended deck plan, with a side of such
curve and slope that under ice pressure she would be
lifted instead of crushed between the floes, and with
bow, stern, and keel so rounded off that she would slip
like an eel from the embrace of the ice, she was of
such solidity as to withstand any pressure from any
direction. Her stem of three stout oak beams, one
inside the other, was four feet in thickness, protected
with iron ; her rudder-post and propeller-post, two feet
across, had on either side a stout oak counter-timber
following the curvature upwards and forming a double
stern-post, with the planking cased with heavy iron
plates ; and between these timbers was a well for the
screw and another for the rudder, so that each could
be hoisted on deck, the rudder with the help of the
capstan coming up in a few minutes. Her frames,
ten inches thick and twenty-one wide, stood close
together, carrying three layers of planking, giving
altogether a side of two feet or more of solid wood,
so shored and stayed for strength that the hold looked
like a thicket of balks, joists, and stanchions. With
a length of 128 feet over all, a breadth of thirty-six, a
depth of seventeen, and a displacement of 800 tons,
she was quite a multum-in-parvo engined with a
220 horse-power triple expansion, so contrived that in
case of accident or for any other cause the cylinders
could be used singly or two together. Rigged as a three-
masted fore-and-aft schooner, with the mainmast much
A WALRUS HUNT 93
higher than the others— it being unusually high, for
the crow's-nest on the main-topmast was 102 feet
above the water — she proved equal to the demands on
her, though in her case strength and warmth had to be
thought of before weatherliness and speed. But her
speed was not so poor, for when steaming and sailing
after leaving Cape Chelyuskin on the 10th of Sep-
tember she was doing her nine knots.
The day after she had entered the Nordenskiold
Sea came a walrus-hunt, so graphically described by
Nansen that we must find room for an extract. " It
was," he says, " a lovely morning — fine, still weather ;
the walruses' guffaw sounded over to us along the
clear ice surface. They were lying crowded together
on a floe a little to landward of us, blue mountains
glittering behind them in the sun. At last the har-
poons were sharpened, guns and cartridges ready, and
Henriksen, Juell, and I set off. There seemed to be
a slight breeze from the south, so we rowed to the
north side of the floe, to get to leeward of the animals.
From time to time their sentry raised his head, but
apparently did not see us. We advanced slowly, and
soon were so near that we had to row very cautiously.
Juell kept us going, while Henriksen was ready in the
bow with a harpoon, and I behind him with a gun.
The moment the sentry raised his head the oars
stopped, and we stood motionless ; when he sank it
again, a few more strokes brought us nearer. Body
to body they lay, close-packed on a small floe, old and
young ones mixed. Enormous masses of flesh they
were. Now and again one of the ladies fanned herself
by moving one of her flippers backwards and forwards
94 CAPE CHELYUSKIN
over her body ; then she lay quiet again on her back
or side. More and more cautiously we drew near.
Whilst I sat ready with the gun, Henriksen took a
good grip of the harpoon shaft, and as the boat
touched the floe he rose, and off flew the harpoon.
But it struck too high, glanced off the tough hide,
and skipped over the backs of the animals. Now
there was a pretty to do ! Ten or twelve great weird
faces glared upon us at once ; the colossal creatures
twisted themselves round with incredible celerity, and
came waddling with lifted heads and hollow bellowings
to the edge of the ice where we lay. It was un-
deniably an imposing sight ; but I laid my gun to my
shoulder and fired at one of the biggest heads. The
animal staggered and then fell head foremost into the
water. Now a ball into another head ; this creature
fell, too, but was able to fling itself into the sea. And
now the whole flock dashed in, and we, as well as they,
were hidden in the spray. It had all happened in a
few seconds. But up they came again immediately
round the boat, the one head bigger and uglier than
the other — their young ones close beside them. They
stood up in the water, bellowed and roared till the air
trembled, threw themselves forward towards us, then
rose up again, and new bellowings filled the air.
Then they rolled over and disappeared with a splash,
then bobbed up again. The water foamed and boiled
for yards around — the ice-world that had been so still
before seemed in a moment to have been transformed
into a raging Bedlam. Any moment we might expect
to have a walrus tusk or two through the boat or to
be heaved up or capsized. Something of this kind
FROZEN IN 95
was the very least that could happen after such a
terrible commotion. But the hurly-burly went on
and nothing came of it."
The Frarn had to follow the coast owing to the thick
pack barring the way across the sea. The mouth of
the Chatanga was passed, then that of the Olenek, and
then the influence of the warm water of the Lena
being apparent by the clearance of the floes, the course
was laid straight for the Pole in open water until
77° 44' was reached, when, checked by the long com-
pact edge of ice shining through the fog, the route
became north-westerly until they stopped for fear they
should get near land, which was the very thing they
wished to avoid ; and on the 25th of September in
about 78|-0 north latitude — north-west of Sannikof
Land — they were frozen in.
Preparations for wintering began. The rudder was
hauled up, the engine was taken to pieces, each separate
part oiled and laid away with the greatest care — for
Amundsen looked after it as if it were his own child-
a carpenter's shop was started in the hold, a smithy
arranged first on deck and then on the ice. But it all
had to be replaced, even the engine put together again,
for the pack cleared away for a brief period, to return,
when again the shiftings were made ; and when the
windmill was put up to drive the dynamo, the winter
installation was in all senses complete.
Slowly the Fram drifted in her ice-berth, so slowly
that at the end of twelve months she had moved from
point to point only 189 miles, having returned no fur-
ther west than the longitude of the Olenek ; her
highest north, attained on the 18th of June, being
96 CAPE CHELYUSKIN
81° 46'. In the main the drift was north-westerly, but
three times it had boxed the compass in irregular loops,
the only constant thing about it being that, in no
matter what direction she was taken, the bow of the
Pram always pointed south. Of grips she had many,
some of the pressures were enormous, once they were
severe enough to suggest measures for her abandon-
ment, but she survived them all unscathed. Early in
the drift it became apparent that the ice was packing
twice and slacking twice in every twenty-four hours,
and in this sea, as afterwards in the Atlantic area, the
influence of the tides, particularly the spring tides, was
unmistakable — as it was expected it would be — though
in the deep Polar basin the wind had more effect ; and,
in truth, the wind was a factor throughout in the packing
of the ice and in the drift's direction. One thing was
clear, that the current was not taking the Fram across
the North Pole, but about half-way between it and
Spitsbergen ; and if the Pole was to be reached some
of the expedition must attempt to get there over the
ice. This meant leaving the ship, going north, and
returning to the nearest known land, for, owing to the
irregularity of the drift, it was hopeless to think of
again reaching the Fram. During the second winter
the route of the ship trended more to the north, and,
after a loop all round in January, she reached 84° 4' on
the 14th of March in the longitude of Cape Chelyuskin.
Here Nansen and Lieutenant F. H. Johansen, who
rather than not join the Fram had shipped in her as
stoker, left the ship with three sledges, two kayaks, and
twenty-eight dogs to go as far northward as they could,
their expectation being that they would reach the Pole
v .
To face page g6
JOURN7EYING TOWARDS THE POLE 97
in fifty days. Had they remained in the ship until
November they would have saved themselves trouble,
for, as matters turned out, the embarrassing drift took
the Pram, within eight miles of the farthest north
they attained after twenty-three days of strenuous en-
deavour.
The ice, fairly easy for a few days, soon became
terrible in the difficulties it offered to progress over it,
and the continual toil of hauling and carrying the
sledges, and righting them when capsized, soon told on
the two men to such an extent as to tire them out so
thoroughly that sometimes in the evening they fell
asleep as they went along. The cold, too, proved
singularly searching and severe. During the course of
the day the damp exhalations of the body little by
little became condensed in their outer garments, which
became transformed into suits of ice-armour, so hard
that if they could have been got off they could have
stood by themselves, and they crackled audibly at every
movement. The clothes were so stiff that the sleeve
of Nansen's coat rubbed deep sores in his wrist, one of
which got frost-bitten, the wound growing deeper and
deeper and nearly reaching the bone. " How cold we
were," says Nansen, " as we lay there shivering in the
bag, waiting for the supper to be ready ! I, who was
cook, was obliged to keep myself more or less awake to
see to the culinary operations, and sometimes I suc-
ceeded. At last the supper was ready, was portioned
out, and, as always, tasted delicious. These occasions
were the supreme moments of our existence, moments
to which we looked forward all day long. But some-
times we were so weary that our eyes closed, and we
H
98 CAPE CHELYUSKIN
fell asleep with the food on its way to our mouths.
Our hands would fall back inanimate with the spoons
in them and the food fly out on the bag."
The further they went the worse became the condi-
tions. On the 8th of April, with ridge after ridge and
nothing but rubble to travel over, the work became so
disheartening that Nansen went on ahead on his skis
and from the highest hummocks viewed the state of
affairs ; and as far as the horizon, lay a chaos of such
character that progress across was impracticable if he
and Johansen were to return alive. Here, then, they
stopped, this being their northernmost limit, 128 miles
from the Fram, 260 miles from the Pole, latitude
86° 13-6', longitude 95°.
To reach this point they had been travelling north-
westwards for six days, the way due north being
impassable ; but on turning south they seemed to enter
another country ; so much did the going improve after
the first mile that in three days they covered over forty
miles. They were making for Petermann Land, which
does not exist, or for the wide-stretching Franz Josef
Land, also placed on the maps by Payer, which Jack-
son had been cutting up into fragments while the Fram
was in the ice. Further south difficulties thickened
ahead of them till the road became almost as bad as
that to the north. Before they reached land the hun-
dred days they had allowed themselves had increased to
more than half as many again, their dogs had been
killed one by one to yield food for the rest, until only
two remained ; Nansen was helpless with rheumatism
for two days ; and Johansen was nearly killed by a
bear. Through a chain of disasters caused by storms
FREDERICK JACKSON ISLAND 99
and fogs and snow and the state of the ice, they
threaded their way, sometimes by sledge, sometimes by
kayak, through mazes of open channels, leaping from
floe to floe and ferrying back to get their baggage over,
hundreds of yards on mere brash, dragging the sledges
after them in constant fear of their capsizing into the
water. Then the ice gave out and, taking to their
kayaks, they sailed and paddled to what is now known
as Frederick Jackson Island in the north of the Franz
Josef Archipelago.
Here they wintered, quite at a loss at first to know
where they were, owing to their watches having run
down during a great effort of thirty-six hours at a
stretch, so that they did not know their longitude,
though they subsequently concluded they must be
somewhere on Franz Josef Land within 140 miles of
Eira Harbour. They built a hut and altogether lived
passably well, there being no lack of food, thanks
mainly to the bears, whose visits were embarrassing in
their frequency though the visitors were not unwelcome
when they came to stay.
On the 19th of May they set out for the south, down
British Channel, with their sledges and kayaks, and
five days afterwards, when off' Cape M'Clintock, while
Johansen was busy lashing the sail and mast securely to
the deck of his kayak to prevent their being blown
away, Nansen went on ahead to look for a camping
ground and fell through a crack in the ice which had
been hidden by the snow. He tried to get out, but
with his skis firmly fastened could not pull them up
through the rubble of ice which had fallen into the
water on the top of them, and, being harnessed to the
100 CAPE CHELYUSKIN
sledge, he could not turn round. Fortunately, as he
fell, he had dug his staff into the ice on the opposite
side of the crack, and holding himself up with its aid,
and the arm he had got over the edge of the ice, he
waited patiently for Johansen to come and pull him
out. When he thought a long time had passed and
felt the staff giving way and the water creeping further
up his body, he called out but received no answer ; and
it was not until the water had reached his chest that
Johansen came and pulled him out.
For a few days they were storm-bound. On the
3rd of June they started again down the channel, their
whereabouts still a mystery to them, nothing in the
least like it being on their map. Nine days after-
wards, after rounding Cape Barents on Northbrook
Island, the kayaks, which had been left moored to the
edge of the ice, got adrift. Nansen, running down
from the hummock, from which he had been looking
round, threw off some of his clothes and sprang into
the water. The wind was off the ice, and the kayaks
with their high rigging were moving away as fast as
he could swim. It seemed more than doubtful if he
could reach them. But all their hope was there, all
they had was on board ; they had not even a knife
with them, and whether he sank or turned back
amounted to much the same thing. When he tired
he turned over and swam on his back, and then he
could see Johansen walking restlessly up and down on
the ice, unable to do anything, and having the worst
time he ever lived through. But the wind lulled, and
when Nansen turned over he saw he was nearing the
kayaks, and though his limbs were stiffening and
RECOVERING THE KAYAKS 101
losing all feeling, he put all the strength he could into
his strokes, and eventually was able to reach them.
He tried to pull himself up, but was so stiff with cold
that he could not do so. For a moment he thought
he was too late ; but after a little he managed to swing
one leg up on to the edge of the sledge, which lay on
the deck, and in this way he scrambled on board.
The kayaks were lashed together so as to form a
double boat, and the only way in which, owing to his
stiffness, he could paddle them was to take one or two
strokes on one side and then step into the other kayak
and take a few strokes on the other side. The return
was consequently slow, but it was a return, though
the ice was reached a long way from where the drifting
had begun.
Next day but one came another perilous episode.
" Towards morning," says Nansen, " we rowed for some
time without seeing any walrus, and now felt more
secure. Just then we saw a solitary rover pop up a
little in front of us. Johansen, who was in front at
the time, put in to a sunken ledge of ice ; and although
I really thought that this was caution carried to excess,
I was on the point of following his example. I had not
gone so far, however, when suddenly the walrus shot
up beside me, threw himself on to the edge of the kayak,
took hold further over the deck with one flipper, and
as it tried to upset me aimed a blow at the kayak with
its tusks. I held on as tightly as possible, so as not
to be upset into the water, and struck at the animal's
head with the paddle as hard as I could. It took hold of
the kayak once more and tilted me up so that the deck
was almost under water, then let go and raised itself
102 CAPE CHELYUSKIN
right up. I seized my gun, but at the same moment it
turned round and disappeared as quickly as it had
come. The whole thing had happened in a moment,
and I was just going to remark to Johansen that we
were fortunate in escaping so easily from that adventure,
when I noticed that my legs were wet. I listened,
and now heard the water trickling into the kayak
under me. To turn and run her in on to the sunken
ledge of ice was the work of a moment, but I sank
there. The thing was to get out and on to the ice,
the kayak filling all the time. The edge of the ice was
high and loose, but I managed to rise ; and Johansen,
by tilting the sinking kayak over to starboard, so that
the leak came above the water, managed to bring her
to a place where the ice was low enough to admit of
our drawing her up. All I possessed was floating
about inside, soaked through. So here we lie, with
all our worldly goods spread out to dry and a kayak
that must be mended before we can face the walrus
again. It is a good big rent that he has made, at
least six inches long ; but it is fortunate that it was no
worse/
The kayak was mended, and, after a long rest, it was
past noon on the 17th of June when Nansen turned
out to prepare breakfast. After doing so he went up
on a hummock to look around. Flocks of little auks
were flying overhead, and, amid the confused noise of
their calls, he heard a couple of barks from a dog.
Thinking he was mistaken he waited for a time, and
then the barking was unmistakable, bark after bark,
one of a deeper tone than the other. He shouted to
Johansen, who started up from the sleeping-bag in-
NANSEN MEETS JACKSON 103
credulous. The sound ceased, and, breakfast over,
Nansen went forth to investigate. Soon he came on
the footprints of a dog or wolf, and then, still doubting,
he heard a distant yelping that certainly came not from
a wolf. Making his way among the hummocks, he
heard a shout from a human voice, a strange voice-
the first for three years. Running up on to a hum-
mock he shouted with all his might. Back came a
shout in reply ; and among the hummocks he caught
sight of a dog, and further off a man walked into view.
The man spoke to the dog in English. Thinking he
recognised Jackson, Nansen raised his hat as he met
him, and they shook hands heartily.
The contrast could not have been greater. One the
well-groomed, civilised European in a check suit and
rubber water-boots, the other in dirty rags black with
oil and soot, with long matted hair and shaggy beard,
and a face in which the complexion was undiscernible
through the accumulations which a winter's endeavours,
including scrapings with a knife, had failed to remove.
As they talked they had turned to go inland. Sud-
denly Jackson stopped, and, looking the new arrival
straight in the face, said-
" Aren't you Nansen ?"
"Yes, I am."
" By Jove ! I'm damned glad to see you."
And seizing his hand he shook it again, his whole
face beaming with a smile of welcome and delight at
the unexpected meeting ; and needless to say, both
Nansen and Johansen received the warmest of wel-
comes from all at Elmwood. The Windward was then
on her way, and when she arrived the two Norsemen
104 CAPE CHELYUSKIN
from the farthest north went in her to Vardoe, where
they landed on the 13th of August.
Meanwhile the Frcvm had continued her leisurely
drift, north-west, south-west, north-west, west, then all
round the compass, still with her head pointing south,
until on the 15th of November she reached 85° 55 -5' in
longitude 66° 31', thus giving Captain Otto Sverdrup
the honour of attaining the highest north in a ship.
Another winter was passed in her ice-berth, during
which she moved westerly. In February came another
complete triangle in her course, after which she went
south-west, and on the 16th of May turned due south.
Then, in the later days of the month with the southerly
drift continuing and open water on ahead, Sverdrup
resolved to set her free by mines, and on the 3rd of
June, as a result of the blastings, she gave a lurch,
settled a little deeper at the stern and moved away
from the edge of the ice until the hawsers tautened.
But, though she was afloat, the ice around still kept her
captive, and in the pool she drifted straight towards
Spitsbergen.
Again and again was steam got up and endeavour
made to break a way out, but day after day elapsed,
and it was not until the 13th of August that she passed
through the last floes into open water, and her thirty-
five months of imprisonment came to an end. Making
for Danes Island in Spitsbergen, she was there boarded
by Andree, who was then preparing for his disappear-
ance in the balloon voyage to the Pole. Going on
direct to Skjervoe in Norway, Sverdrup landed at two
o'clock in the morning to wake up the telegraphist,
who told him that Nansen had reached Vardoe a week
THE MEETING AT TROMSOE 105
before and was then at Hammerfest and probably
leaving for Tromsoe. For Tromsoe Sverdrup started,
after telegraphing to Nansen. And there, at four
o'clock in the afternoon of the 25th of August, 1896,
Sir George Baden-Powell's yacht Ot-aria, with Nansen
and Johansen on board, glided alongside the Fram, the
good little ship looking much weather-beaten though
none the worse for such a task of strength and endur-
ance as had been set no other in the story of the sea.
CHAPTER VI
THE LENA DELTA
Discovery of the Siberian Islands — Hedenstrom — Anjou and Wrangell —
Migration of reindeer — Animals and plants of the tundra — The north-
ward migration of the native tribes — The voyage of the Jeannette — Her
drift in the pack — Jeannette Island — Henrietta Island — The ship crushed
and sunk — Landing on Bennett Island — The boat voyage — The boats
separate in a storm — De Long lands on the Lena Delta — Nindemann
and Noros in search of assistance— Safety of the whale-boat — Fate of
De Long and his companions — Baron Toll's discoveries.
r I AHE Siberian Islands, lying north of the delta of
-L the Lena, answer to the Parry Islands on the
American side, the two groups being separated by that
wide stretch of the Arctic Ocean communicating with
the Pacific through Bering Strait. At first the Asiatic
group was officially named after Liakhoff, then it was
called after the unwisely named New Siberia, but,
under any designation, it took half a century to find
the different islands, and considerably more to land
on them.
When Liakhoff discovered the one named after him
by the Empress Catherine, he also went north to
Moloi, and he seems to have visited Kotelnoi to the
north-west. In 1775 Chvoinof was sent to survey
these three, but he devoted most of his attention to
Liakhoff Island — fifty miles across — which he found
to consist, as reported, of hills of granite rising from
a mass of mammoth bones, sand, and ice, some of the
106
THE LENA DELTA
100 0 100 ZOO 300 4OO 500
To face page 106
THE SIBERIAN ISLANDS 107
ice ancient enough to carry a deep covering of moss.
Though he stated that other islands could be made
out in the distance, nothing was done to verify his
discoveries, real or imaginary, until thirty years had
passed, when Thaddeus and Stolbovoi were reached.
Next year (1806) New Siberia, to the eastward, was
discovered by Sirovatskof. and two years afterwards
Bjelkof was added to the southerly portion of the
archipelago.
In 1809 Hedenstrom, assisted by Sannikof, began
his series of surveys extending over all these, and
cleared up much of the mystery concerning them.
From Thaddeus, Sannikof sighted, away to the north-
ward, what is now known as Bennett Island ; and,
from New Siberia, Hedenstrom sighted Henrietta and
Jeannette Islands, and set out for them, and would
have reached them had his sledges not been stopped by
open water. Like his predecessors he was astonished
at the mammoth remains on Liakhoff Island.
According to his account, "these bones or tusks
are less large and heavy the further we advance
towards the north, so that it is a rare occurrence on
the islands to meet with a tusk of more than 108 Ibs.
in weight, whereas on the continent they are said often
to weigh as much as 432 Ibs. In quantity, however, these
bones increase wonderfully to the northward, and as
Sannikof expresses himself, the whole soil of the first
of the Liakhoff Islands appears to consist of them.
For about eighty years the fur-hunters have every
year brought large cargoes from this island, but as yet
there is no sensible diminution of the stock. The
tusks on the islands are also much more fresh and
108 THE LENA DELTA
white than those on the continent. A sandbank on
the western side was most productive of all, and the
fur-hunters maintain that when the sea recedes after a
long continuance of easterly winds, a fresh supply of
mammoth bones is always found to have been washed
from this bank, proceeding apparently from some vast
store at the bottom of the sea." Besides these multi-
tudinous remains of the mammoth Hedenstrom found
numerous remains of rhinoceros, the horn of which
was then thought to be a bird's claw three feet long.
To clear up the wide discrepancies in the maps the
Emperor Alexander, in 1820, equipped two expeditions
to proceed by land to the northern coast of Siberia
and properly survey it, the work to be carried as far
east as Cape Chelagskoi, whence a sledge party was to
start for the north in search of the inhabited country re-
ported to exist in the Polar Sea in that direction. One
of these expeditions, under Lieutenant P. F. Anjou,
was to commence its operations from the mouth of
the Yana ; the other, under Lieutenant Ferdinand
Vrangel' (or, as he is generally known amongst us,
Wrangell or Von Wrangell), was to start from the
mouth of the Kolyma, his chief assistant being Mid-
shipman Matiuschkin. Both parties did good survey
work, but neither made any striking discovery. Anjou
reached 76° 36' to the north of Kotelnoi ; Wrangell
reached 72° 2' (north-east of the Bear Islands, one
hundred and seventy-four miles out on the sea from
the great Baranoff rock), beyond which progress was
impossible owing to the thinness of the ice, which was
covered with salt water.
Wrangell had many perilous experiences. In his
A MARVELLOUS ESCAPE 109
fourth journey over the sea the ice broke up around
him and he found himself on a floe with a labyrinth
of water lanes hemming him in on every side and a
storm coming on from the westward. The storm
rapidly increased in fury, and the masses of ice around
him were soon dashing against each other and break-
ing in all directions. On the floe, which was tossing to
and fro on the waves, he gazed in painful inactivity on
the conflict, expecting every moment to be swallowed
up. For three long hours he had remained unable to
move, the mass of ice beneath him holding together,
when it was caught by the storm and hurled against a
large field of ice. The crash was terrific, as it was
shattered into little pieces. At that dreadful moment,
when escape seemed impossible, he was saved by the
impulse of self-preservation. Instinctively the party
sprang on to the sledges and urged the dogs to full
speed, and as hard as they could gallop they skimmed
across the yielding fragments to the field on which
they had been stranded, and safely reached a stretch
of firmer ice, where the dogs ceased running among
the hummocks, conscious that the danger was past.
But it is not so much for adventures like this that his
account of his work is of continuing interest as for the
abundance of its notes and reflections on the country
and its life and climate. Once, for instance, when on
the Baranicha he was fortunate enough to witness a
migration of reindeer. " I had hardly finished the
observation," he says, " when my whole attention was
called to a highly interesting, and to me a perfectly
novel, spectacle. Two large migrating bodies of rein-
deer passed us at no great distance. They were de-
110 THE LENA DELTA
scending the hills from the north-west and crossing the
plain on their way to the forests, where they spend the
winter. Both bodies of deer extended further than the
eye could reach, and formed a compact mass, narrow-
ing towards the front. They moved slowly and majes-
tically along, their broad antlers resembling a moving
wood of leafless trees. Each body was led by a deer of
unusual size, which my guides assured me was always a
female. One of the herds was stealthily followed by a
wolf, who was apparently watching for an opportunity
of seizing any one of the younger and weaker deer
which might fall behind the rest, but on seeing us he
made off in another direction. The other column was
followed at some distance by a large black bear, who,
however, appeared only intent on digging out a mouse's
nest every now and then, so much so that he took no
notice of us. We had great difficulty in restraining
our two dogs, but happily succeeded in doing so ; their
barking, or any sound or motion on our part, might
have alarmed the deer, and by turning them from their
course, have proved a terrible misfortune to the hun-
ters, who were awaiting their passage, on which they
are entirely dependent for support. We remained for
two hours whilst the herds of deer were passing by,
and then resumed our march."
The way in which the deer are dealt with by the
hunters was seen by Matiuschkin when despatched by
Wrangell to survey the Anyui. " The true harvest,
which we arrived just in time to see, is in August or
September, when the reindeer are returning from the
plains to the forests. They are then healthy and well
fed, the venison is excellent, and as they have just
THE MIGRATION OF THE REINDEER 111
acquired their winter coats the fur is thick and warm.
The difference of the quality of the skins at the two
seasons is such, that whilst an autumn skin is valued at
five or six roubles, a spring one will only fetch one or
one and a half roubles. In good years the migrating
body of reindeer consists of many thousands ; and
though they are divided into herds of two or three
hundred each, yet the herds keep so near together as to
form only one immense mass, which is sometimes from
thirty to seventy miles in breadth. They always
follow the same route, and in crossing the river near
Plotbischtsche, they choose a place where a dry valley
leads down to the stream on one side, and a flat sandy
shore facilitates their landing on the other side. As
each separate herd approaches the river, the deer draw
more closely together, and the largest and strongest
takes the lead. He advances, closely followed by a
few of the others, with head erect, and apparently
intent on examining the locality. When he has satis-
fied himself, he enters the river, the rest of the herd
crowd after him, and in a few minutes the surface is
covered with them. Then the hunters, who have been
concealed to leeward, rush in their light canoes from
their hiding-places, surround the deer, and delay their
passage, whilst two or three chosen men armed with
short spears dash into the middle of the herd and de-
spatch large numbers in an incredibly short time ; or at
least wound them so, that, if they reach the bank, it is
only to fall into the hands of the women and children.
The office of the spearman is a very dangerous one.
It is no easy thing to keep the light boat afloat among
the dense crowd of swimming deer, which, moreover,
112 THE LENA DELTA
make considerable resistance ; the males with their
horns, teeth, and hind legs, whilst the females try to
overset the boat by getting their fore-feet over the
gunwale ; if they succeed in this the hunter is lost, for
it is hardly possible that he should extricate himself
from the throng ; but the skill of these people is so
great that accidents very rarely occur. A good hunter
may kill a hundred or more in less than half an hour.
When the herd is large, and gets into disorder, it often
happens that their antlers become entangled with each
other ; they are then unable to defend themselves, and
the business is much easier. Meanwhile the rest of the
boats pick up the slain and fasten them together with
thongs, and every one is allowed to keep what he lays
hold of in this manner. It might seem that in this
way nothing would be left to requite the spearmen for
their skill, and the danger they have encountered ; but
whilst everything taken in the river is the property of
whoever secures it, the wounded animals which reach
the bank before they fall, belong to the spearman who
wounded them. The skill and experience of these men
are such that in the thickest of the conflict, when
every energy is taxed to the uttermost, and their life is
every moment at stake, they have sufficient presence of
mind to contrive to measure the force of their blows so
as to kill the smallest animals outright, but only to
wound the larger and finer ones, so that they may be
just able to reach the bank. Such proceeding is not
sanctioned by the general voice, but it seems neverthe-
less to be almost always practised. The whole scene is
of a most singular and curious character, and quite
indescribable. The throng of thousands of swimming
to
n
a
THE TUNDRA 113
reindeer, the sound produced by the striking together
of their antlers, the swift canoes dashing in amongst
them, the terror of the frightened animals, the danger
of the hunters, the shouts of warning advice or applause
from their friends, the blood-stained water, and all the
accompanying circumstances, form a whole which no
one can picture to himself without having witnessed
the scene."
The tundra has no more characteristic animal than
the reindeer. Over the mossy hillocks and the matted
tops of the dwarf birches he runs, or through the rivers
and lakes he swims, with his broad-hoofed, spade-like
feet never at a loss to find a footing. In the long
winter he is protected by his thick skin against the
influence of the cold, and is seldom at starvation point,
as he digs for food in the deepest snow, and is by no
means particular what he eats ; and in the short
summer he is in luxurious ease, for the tundra, as we
have seen, is not always as bad as it is painted. In
exposed places near the coast it is little else than
gravel beds interspersed with patches of peat and
clay, with scarcely a rush or a sedge to break the
monotony, but by far the greater part of it is a gently
undulating plain, broken up by lakes, rivers, swamps,
and bogs ; the lakes with patches of green water-
plants, the rivers flowing between sedges and rushes,
the swamps the breeding haunts of ruffs and phala-
ropes, the bogs dotted with the white fluffy seeds of
the cotton-grass. Almost everywhere the birds are in
noticeable numbers, among the commonest being the
golden plover (who wears the tundra colours), the blue-
throat, the fieldfare, the whooper swan, and the
114 THE LENA DELTA
ducks and divers — particularly the divers — and, among
the birds of prey, the falcons and the rough -legged
buzzards, which, with the owls, find such abundant
provision in the lemmings that migrate in myriads
compared with which the reindeer troops are in-
significant.
" The groundwork of all this variegated scenery,"
says Seebohm, " is more beautiful and varied still —
lichens and mosses of almost every conceivable colour,
from the cream-coloured reindeer-moss to the scarlet-
cupped trumpet-moss, interspersed with a brilliant
alpine flora, gentians, anemones, saxifrages, and hun-
dreds of plants, each a picture in itself, the tall aconites,
both the blue and yellow species, the beautiful cloud-
berry, with its gay white blossom and amber fruit,
the fragrant Ledum palustre and the delicate pink
Andromeda polifolia. In the sheltered valleys and
deep water-courses a few stunted birches, and some-
times large patches of wrillow scrub, survive the long
severe winter, and serve as cover for willow-grouse or
ptarmigan. The Lapland bunting and red-throated
pipit are everywhere to be seen, and certain favoured
places are the breeding-grounds of plovers and sand-
pipers of many species. So far from meriting the name
of Barren Ground, the tundra is for the most part a
veritable paradise in summer. But it has one almost
fatal drawback — it swarms with mosquitoes."
The beauty of the tundra is, however, transient and
skin deep ; it is only such plants as can live in the soil
that thaws that survive. Wherever the ground is dug
into, ice is sure to be reached ; in fact, it may be said
that ice is one of the rocks of the subsoil, and in some
a
a
o
H
c/)
O
THE NATIONS OF THE COAST 115
places these strata of ice that never melts have been
found to be three hundred feet thick — ice that has
remained in block since the mammoths got into cold
storage in it ages ago, for otherwise they would not
have lasted intact in skin and flesh as many have done,
like the very first discovered in a complete state, that
chipped out by Adams in 1807.
In such a climate, whose winter terrors are only too
prominent, all along the north of Siberia live the
ancient peoples driven towards the sea by those
mighty movements from the land of the Turk and
Mongol which, north and south, east and west,
flooded Europe and Asia with invaders — Ostiaks and
Samoyeds west of Chelyuskin ; Yakuts, Chukches,
and others to the east of it, the descriptions of whose
unpleasant manners and customs appear to be written
with a view to showing how curiously local are the
laws of health. One may well ask, as Wrangell did,
why they should remain in so dreary a region and
take life so contentedly. And the answer may be
that they might go further north and fare worse, as
their predecessors in the eastern section would seem
to have done. Once, according to the legend, there
were more hearths of the Omoki on the shores of the
Kolyma than there are stars in the clear sky, and these
Omoki, or some other departed race, appear to have
left as their traces the remains of the timber forts and
the tumuli that are found on the coast, especially near
the Indiyirka, and the huts of earth and stones and
bones found all along from Chelagskoi to the straits,
similar remains of a departed people now existing in
the Parry Islands, over a thousand miles away.
116 THE LENA DELTA
According to another legend of more recent date,
there was an intervening land, the land that Wrangell
went to seek and the Jeannette went to winter at,
and the supposed site of which she drifted through, in
her last and longest imprisonment in the ice.
The Jeannette was the old Pandora, bought from
Sir Allen Young by James Gordon Bennett, and
accepted by and fitted out, officered, and manned
under the orders of the Navy Department of the
United States, her commander being Lieutenant
George Washington De Long. She left San Fran-
cisco on the 8th of July, 1879, and two months after-
wards had been run into the pack and was fast in the
ice off Herald Island, drifting to her doom. Her
route, in the main, was north-westerly, with many
complicated loops, at first at the rate of half a mile a
day, then at two miles, then at three, showing that
the current from Bering Strait had been reinforced by
some other current as she went further west, and,
from its direction, there seemed to be land to the
northward which was never sighted.
Wrangell Land, passed to the south, proved to be
not a continent but a small island. No other land was
seen for a monotonous twenty months, and then, in
May, 1881, the ship drifted, stern first, past that
sighted by Hedenstrom from New Siberia, which was
found to consist of two islands, to be henceforth known
as Jeannette and Henrietta. On the 12th of June, in
latitude 77° 14' 57", the Jeannette was crushed and sank,
her fore yardarms breaking upwards as she slipped
down through the rift in the pack, and a start was
made for the Siberian Islands over the ice ; but the
DE LONG'S BOAT VOYAGE 117
drift had taken the party to 77° 36', before they got
on their proper course, and after a most laborious
journey, lasting up to the 28th of July, they were safe
ashore on the land sighted by Sannikof from Thaddeus,
which De Long named Bennett Island.
Bennett Island was left on the 7th of August, the
party of thirty-three being in three boats, thirteen
under De Long in the first cutter, ten under Lieu-
tenant Chipp in the much smaller second cutter, and
ten, under Engineer George W. Melville, whose skill
and resourcefulness had been conspicuous throughout,
were given the whale-boat, the most suitable of the
three. Sail was made for Thaddeus Island, which was
reached in safety ; after a halt of some days it was left
on the 31st of August. Then Kotelnoi Island was
reached and rested at ; then the boats made for Semo-
novski, which was left on the 12th of September.
The same day a gale came on in which the first
cutter had great difficulty in keeping afloat, the second
cutter disappeared never to be heard of again, and the
whale-boat, behaving excellently, went off before the
wind straight for the continent to reach in safety one
of the eastern mouths of the Lena, up which Melville
arrived at a Russian village on the 26th of September.
De Long's party ran their boat aground in shallow
water, on the 17th of September, and rafted and waded
ashore to one of the most inhospitable spots on the
globe. Heavily laden they made their way down the
dreary delta, toiling through the snow, delayed by the
tributaries which were not frozen over hard enough to
bear, hampered by sickness and disablement, and finally
dying one by one of starvation.
118 THE LENA DELTA
On the 9th of October De Long sent two of the sea-
men, Nindemann and Noros, ahead in search of relief.
They had no food but what they could find, and on the
second day out their dinner consisted of a little willow
tea and a burnt boot sole. Next morning they burnt
another sole of a boot, and they spent the day strug-
gling through a morass in drifting snow, crossing
streams of all sizes, and halting for the night in so high
a wind that they were unable to light a fire and took
refuge in a hole in the snow from which they emerged
with difficulty in the morning, owing to the wind having
piled up the snow against the opening. At the end of
the third day they reached a deserted hut in which
were some deer bones, which they grilled and tried to
eat, and in the morning a gale was blowing and the
wild drifting snow was so thick that they had to remain
where they were and continue their diet of charred
bones and willow tea.
Next day, Thursday, the 13th of October, they
began against a strong head wind. In the afternoon
they sighted a hut on the west bank of the river.
" They had seen one in the morning, but had in vain
attempted to cross the ice to it. Now they tried to
reach this, but were turned back by the brittle ice.
They kept it in sight as they moved southward, and
made another attempt to cross the ice, but it broke and
they came back. Then they saw that there was no
further progress possible to the southward on that side
of the water, and they returned to the ice. It broke
again, but they kept on. They went in up to their
waists, but managed to pull themselves up on the
stronger ice." The wind was blowing against them
NINDEMANN AND NOROS 119
and the ice was like glass, so that they were driven
back. They looked about for ice which had been
roughened by the ripples beneath, and finding some
they succeeded at length in reaching the other side,
where were two wooden crosses beneath a bank, which
rose fifty feet above them. They pulled themselves up
the bank, but when they came to the hut which they
had kept in sight they found it a ruin nearly full of
snow. " While Noros was trying to make a place in it
for shelter, Nindemann saw a black object farther along
to the south and went to it. It was a small peaked
hut without a door, but large enough to hold two men.
There were some fresh wood shavings outside the hut
and higher up on the hill two boxes. On going to
them Nindemann found them old and decayed, and he
began to break one of them open. When he had
ripped off the top he discovered that there was another
box enclosed ; breaking into it he found a dead body,
and hastily left it. Doubtless the two crosses below on
the river bank were memorials of the two beings left
high up above the reach of the floods."
In the small hut they found a sort of floor, the
boards of which they pulled up for firewood, and in a
hole beneath was a box in which were a couple of fish
and two fish heads ; and, as these were discovered, a
lemming came out of another hole and was promptly
caught. On the lemming, roasted on the ramrod, and
the fishes, which were so decayed that they dropped
apart as they were handled, they made their meal for
that day. Next day the snowstorm was so heavy that
they were driven back here after striving in vain to
make headway. On the Saturday, still without food,
120 THE LENA DELTA
they rested for the night in a fissure in the river bank,
where as a last resource Nindemann cut a piece off his
sealskin trousers and soaked it in water and burnt it to
a crust. Their breakfast consisted of the remains of
this toasted sealskin. During the day they saw a crow
flying across the river and in among the hills, and, as
the crow in these regions is rarely found away from the
haunts of men, Nindemann decided to cross the river
in the hope of meeting with either natives or game on
the other side. When darkness carne on no shelter
was discoverable, and so, after a meal of more sealskin
and hot water, they went to rest in a hole in the snow.
Next day, during which they recrossed the river, their
experiences were similar and the end the same.
On Tuesday the 18th, after a terrible day, they came
upon a hut with a pile of wood close by, which proved
to be sledges, and these they broke up, as there was no
other firing. Next day as they were struggling on
they reached a place where there were three huts, in
one of which was a half-kayak and in it was some blue
mouldy fish ; and here, attacked by dysentery, they
remained until the Saturday, unable to go any further.
About noon there was a noise outside like a flock of
geese sweeping by. Nindemann, looking through the
crack of the door, saw something moving which he took
to be a reindeer, and was going out with his rifle when
the door opened and a man entered, who promptly fell
on his knees when he caught sight of the gun. Ninde-
mann threw the rifle into a corner and, trying to make
friends with the man by signs, offered him some of the
fish, which the man by an emphatic gesture pro-
nounced not fit to eat. After some more of the sign
FOUND BY THE NATIVES 121
language it was clear that the native had no food with
him, and holding up three or four fingers to show that
he would return in so many hours or days he drove off.
About six o'clock in the evening, while they were pre-
paring their fish dinner, the visitor returned with two
other men, one of whom brought in a frozen fish which
he skinned and sliced, and while the sailors were eating
it — the first healthy meal they had had for weeks — the
natives invited them to accompany them, and brought
in deerskin coats and boots and finally got them into
the sledges and drove off to the westward for about
fifteen miles. Here there were two tents, and Ninde-
mann was taken into one, Noros into the other, and
both were well looked after, the natives doing their
very best to get them well.
This was intelligible on both sides, for the language
of kindness is universal, but as the sailors knew not the
language of their hosts, and the natives knew not the
language of their guests, the difficulty of being under-
stood by each other was great, and the delivery of the
urgent message in signs was almost impossible. Ninde-
mann did his best ; he appealed to the man who seemed
to be the head of the party, and drawing in the snow a
map of the places where he had been, with every com-
bination of signs he could think of, he tried to explain
what he wanted. That he succeeded to a certain
extent was clear, though he did not think so at first, for
the natives loaded up their sledges, twenty-seven in
number, with reindeer meat and skins and fish, and
struck their tents, and, with over a hundred head of
deer harnessed up, started for the south. At noon,
when the deer were resting, the man for whom the
122 THE LENA DELTA
map had been drawn in the snow took Nindemann to
where he could show him a prominent landmark, and
asked by signs if that was where he had left his
friends. And on learning by signs that it was further
to the north, he shook his head as if sorry, and resumed
his journey to the south. During the next day they
reached Ku Mark Surka, where there were a number of
natives who were much interested in the new-comers,
and again the sailors used every effort to deliver their
message.
Immediately after breakfast on the morning of the
25th, Nindemann began talking to these people in
signs and pantomime. Soon one of them showed that
he had an idea of where the sailors came from, for
he spoke to one of the boys, who ran off and returned
with a model of a Yakutsk boat. Then they gathered
round and evidently asked if the ship was anything
like it. And in answer, Nindemann took up some
sticks and placed three of them in the boat to show
that his ship had three masts, and then he fastened
smaller sticks across to show that she had yards, which
seemed to surprise them greatly. Then he made a
funnel out of wood and put it in position, and pointed
to the fire and smoke to show that she was a steamer,
and then he cut out a propeller with his knife and put
it where the rudder was to show that she was a screw.
Continuing his work he soon chipped out so many
small boats to show how many she had ; and then,
signing to one of the men to get him two pieces of ice,
he showed them how the ship had been crushed.
Pointing to the northward he tried to tell them that
the ship had been crushed up there ; and then he put
AN EFFORT IN SIGN LANGUAGE 123
away the ship and kept only three of the little boats to
tell that part of the story, and in the boats he put so
many sticks to represent the number of men in each.
When he had done this one of the men pointed to a
dog that was looking on and asked if the ship had any,
whereupon the sailor counted on his fingers to show
there were about forty, and by pantomime explained
that they had been shot. This being evidently
understood, Nindemann drew a chart of the coast-line,
and imitating a gale of wind showed that the boat he
came from went to the land at a certain point and that
he knew nothing of the others. Then he went on to
show how they had all left the boat, waded ashore and
walked along the river-bank, and he marked the huts
where they had stopped, and then he indicated where
one of the men had died and been buried in the river.
This was understood, for all the audience shook their
heads as if to say how sorry they were. But when he
tried to tell them that he had left the captain two days
afterwards and had been so many days on the way to
ask for help, they showed that they either did not or
would not understand ; and really it was not easy to
make such a matter clear.
Next day Nindemann made another attempt to get
them to understand the one essential, urgent fact that
help was needed, or the men would die ; but no, he
could not do it. On the Thursday, despairing of the
hopelessness of his task and the helplessness of his
companions, he broke into tears and groans, and a
woman in the hut took pity on him and spoke earnestly
to one of the men, who came and said something
about a commandant. Then the sailor, who had
124 THE LENA DELTA
picked up a few words, asked him to take him to
Bulun, to which the man replied by again saying
commandant and holding up five or six fingers. Late in
the evening there arrived a tall Russian, whom Ninde-
mann supposed to be the commandant and addressed
in English, but he was a Russian exile who could
not understand him, though he seemed to know some-
thing about the matter, for in what he said he clearly
mentioned Jeannette and Americansk. Nindemann
tried him in German, but at this he shook his head.
Then Nindemann showed him the chart given him by
De Long, which the Russian evidently did not under-
stand, though he said something that sounded like
St. Petersburg and telegrams. While this apparently
hopeless conversation was going on Noros was busy
steadily writing out a note that the two sailors had
drawn up, and the tall Russian — who we shall see was
really a most intelligent man — giving over his talk
with Nindemann in despair, coolly picked this up and
put it in his pocket, and notwithstanding the protest
of the Americans, walked off with it. In the morning
he came in and gave them to understand that he was
going to Bulun, and that they were to follow, and
soon afterwards the natives fitted them out with
clothing and boots and food and sent them off on a
sledge. At Bulun they were taken to the comman-
dant, who, after a little sign language from Ninde-
mann, showed that he understood, and said something
about a telegram. The sailors jumped at the idea,
and one of them dictated to the other a despatch to
the American Minister at St. Petersburg. This the
Russian took, explaining that the captain should have
FOUND BY MELVILLE 125
it next day. Who the captain was the sailors could
not make out ; but three days afterwards, that is on
the 3rd of November, while Nindemaim lay on the
bed and Noros was sitting on the table, a man came in
dressed in fur.
"My God, Mr. Melville!" said Noros, recognising
him as soon as he spoke. " Are you alive ? We
thought that the whale-boats were all dead ! "
The- exile had handed the note to Melville, whom he
knew as the captain, and his difficulty in understanding
the sailors had been in their speaking of one boat
while he had only seen the other. The whale-boat
crew had reached a village opposite to where he lived,
and he had agreed to take them to Bulun, and he was
on his way there to arrange for their transport when he
heard of the sailors. Like a sensible man he ordered
the men to be sent to Bulun, and had hurried there,
made his arrangements with the commandant and re-
turned to Melville, who, seeing the urgency of the
case as soon as he read the letter, had started at once,
leaving his party to follow.
Melville, as soon as possible, went off along the
track of the two sailors, who were too weak to go
with him, and eventually found the chronometer and
the log-books and other records ; but the winter was
too far advanced for him to do more, and he had
to return, after a journey of over six hundred miles,
to try again in the spring. Then, accompanied by
Nindemann, he went north, and came upon the bodies
of the commander and those who had perished with
him, and three or four feet behind De Long, as if
he had tossed it over his shoulder, lay the journal in
126 THE LENA DELTA
which the last page was but a chronicle of death after
death.
This chapter must conclude with another tragedy.
In 1885 Dr. Bunge and Baron Toll made some im-
portant investigations in the neighbourhood of the
mouth of the Yana ; and next year Bunge among the
fossils of Liakhoff Island found not only mammoth
and rhinoceros, but horse, musk-ox and deer, and two
new species of ox. To these Toll, after discovering
that there were flourishing trees on Kotelnoi in the
time of the mammoth — nearly two hundred miles
north of their present limit — added frozen carcases
of musk-ox and rhinoceros, and bones of antelope
and tiger.
In 1902 Toll, pushing his geological researches
further north, reached Bennett Island, where he
collected bones of the mammoth and other recent
mammals, while the main mass of the plateau he
identified as of Cambrian age. These discoveries he
included in the record announcing his intention of
leaving for Kotelnoi, which was found in 1904 by the
expedition sent to his relief, for he was never seen
alive again.
CHAPTER VII
BERING STRAIT
Native stories of the distant continent — The Russians in Kamchatka —
Bering's expedition — The difficulties of his task — Builds a vessel and
reaches Kamchatka— Builds another vessel and discovers the strait named
after him by Captain Cook — His second expedition — Spangberg's voyage
to Japan — Bering reaches the American coast — His shipwreck and death
— The influence of the sea-otter and the fur-seal on geographical dis-
covery— The Arctic voyage of Captain Cook — Clerke's voyage— Beechey's
voyage— Point Barrow reached by the barge of the Blossom — Kellett's
voyage in the Herald — Boat expedition to Hudson Bay — Kellett reaches
72° 51' — Landing on Herald Island — Kellett sights Wrangell Island —
Berry in the Kodyprs explores Wrangell Island — He reaches 73° 44' —
Frederick Whymper and W. H. Dall ascend the Yukon.
RUMOURS of land over against the far corner of
Siberia had reached the Russians for years, and
many were the legends of those who had seen these
lands from the cliffs, or had been on the ice to look at
them more closely, or had gone away to them and
never come back. There was, for instance, the old
legend of Kraechoj, who believed he had found safe
shelter at Irkaipii from the Chukche vengeance, but
the Chukche made his way into the stronghold and
killed Kraechoj 's son, whereupon Kraechoj escaped by
letting himself down with thongs to the boat and fled
to the land whose mountains can be seen in clear sun-
shine from Cape Yakan ; and there he was among his
people who had left Asia before him.
And among the official documents was the statement
127
128 BERING STRAIT
made by the Chukches when they went to Anadyrskoi
Ostrog to acknowledge the dominion of the Russians,
that " The Noss is full of rocky mountains, and the
low grounds consist of land covered with turf. Oppo-
site to it lies an island, within sight of it, of no great
extent, and void of wood. It is inhabited by people
who have the same aspect as the Chukche, but are
quite a different nation, and speak their own language,
though they are not numerous. It is half a day's
voyage with boats from the Noss to the island. There
are no sables on the island, and no other animals but
foxes, wolves, and reindeer. Beyond the island is a
large continent that can be scarcely discerned from it,
and that only on clear days ; in calm weather one may
row over the sea from the island to the continent,
which is inhabited by a people who in every particular
resemble the Chukches. There are large forests of fir,
pine, larch, and cedar trees ; great rivers flow through
the country and fall into the sea. The inhabitants have
dwellings and fortified places of abode environed with
ramparts of earth ; they live upon wild reindeer and
fish ; their clothes are made of sable, fox, and reindeer
skins, for sables and foxes are there in great abundance.
The number of men in that country may be twice or
three times as many as that of the Chukches who are
often at war with them." That there was land in sight
somewhere seemed clear, but the reports differed in
placing it all the way round from the north to the east.
Many were the vain attempts to reach it from the
northward-flowing rivers, and it was left to be f )und
from the Pacific side.
When Atlassof, in 1G97, took the first steps in the
BERING STRAIT
100 0 100 ZOO 30O 400 SOO
To face page 128
THE CONQUEST OF KAMCHATKA 129
conquest of Kamchatka the Russians were already
known to the inhabitants. Long before him Fedotof
and a few comrades had made their way into the
country and intermarried with native women. They
had been held in great honour and almost deified as
being evidently of a superior race. For some time it
was supposed that no human hand could hurt them,
but this belief was rudely shattered when two of the
demigods < [uarrelled and fought, and one wounding the
other, the blood flowed. That flow of blood was fatal,
for the natives, judging that they were but ordinary
flesh, took an early opportunity of wiping them out, the
name of their leader being still traceable in that of the
Fedotcha River on the banks of which they had lived.
The Kamchadales had other tales to tell of visitors
from the east and south, and Atlassof himself dis-
covered on the River Itcha a Japanese who had been
wrecked on the coast two years before, from whom he
learnt of islands innumerable. But there were no
ships on the Pacific coast of Siberia, and nothing in
the way of discovery could be done until 1714, when
there arrived at Ochotsk a detachment of sailors and
shipwrights despatched thither overland. According
to one of the sailors, Henry Bush, a Dutchman, the
carpenters built a good durable vessel some fifty feet
long which was ready for sea in 1716 when the first
voyage was undertaken. The coast of Kamchatka was
made near the River Itcha, and sailing south they
reached the Kompakova, where they wintered and
found the whale that had in its body the harpoon of
European workmanship marked with Roman letters,
mentioned by Scoresby. Bush returned to Ochotsk in
K
130 BERING STRAIT
July, to be sent in the following year to discover the
Shantar Islands, and next year, 1718, the Kuriles; thus
venturing into the Pacific beyond Cape Lopatka.
The last of these expeditions was due to the direct
order of Peter the Great, who, knowing nothing of
Deschnef, and finding the sea open to the north, re-
solved on a voyage in that direction, his holograph in-
structions to Admiral Apraxin being: " One or two boats
with decks to be built at Kamchatka, or at any other
convenient place, with which inquiry should be made
relative to the northerly coasts, to see whether they
are not contiguous with America, since their termina-
tion is not yet known." Peter died, and the Empress
Catherine, carrying out these instructions in their
fullest meaning, began her reign with an order for the
expedition.
Veit Bering, Dane by birth and sailor by trade, had
voyaged to the Indies, east and west, and, like many
other men of enterprise, had entered the Russian
service at Peter's invitation. He had served with
distinction in the Cronstadt fleet in the war against
the Swedes, and, being in good repute for his know-
ledge of ships and their handling, was appointed to the
command of the most remarkable Arctic enterprise on
record. Just as Nicholas ruled a line and ordered a
railway to be built there, so did Catherine in the same
imperial way order an exploring expedition, and it
was done. But it meant building the ship from the
trees of the forest on the coast of the Pacific and
carrying the materials and stores — everything but the
timber — right across the Russian empire in the days
when for thousands of miles there were not even roads.
mm :
»-'
THE FACE OF THE FUR SEAL
To face page 130
BERING'S JOURNEY TO OCHOTSK 131
Bering's lieutenants were Martin Spangberg and
Alexei Tschirikof. With them and the rest of the
expedition he left St. Petersburg on the 5th of Feb-
ruary, 1725. During that year they got as far as the
Him, where they wintered. In the spring of 1726
they sailed down the Lena to Yakutsk, where they
parted company for a time owing to the difficulties of
the route to Ochotsk, the way not being passable in
summer with wagons, or in winter with sledges, on
account of the marshes and rocky ground. So Spang-
berg set out, working along the rivers Aldan, Maia,
and Judoma, with part of the provisions and heavy
naval stores, while Bering followed overland through
uninhabited country with more stores on horses, and
Tschirikof remained to collect still more and follow in
the track of his commander.
Bering reached Ochotsk first. Spangberg was frozen
up in the Judoma, and thence he walked to Ochotsk
with the most necessary materials ; but he suffered so
much from hunger on the way that he had to support
life by eating leather bags, straps, and shoes, and did
not reach Bering till the 1st of January, 1727, nearly
two years after leaving St. Petersburg. In the begin-
ning of February he returned to the Judoma and
brought away about half of his lading, the other half
being left for a third journey, which he made from
and to Ochotsk on horses. Meanwhile Tschirikof was
toiling along from Yakutsk, and did not arrive to
complete the party until the 30th of July.
On arrival Bering had to build a vessel to take his
most necessary naval stores and his shipbuilders across
the sea of Ochotsk to Bolscheretzkoi, which, in her, he
132 BERING STRAIT
reached on the 2nd of September. From here he
followed the shipwrights, who went on ahead to fell the
trees, taking with them the provisions and stores, over
the backbone of the isthmus and down the Kamchatka
River to the mouth, a distance of some two hundred
miles, the journey being very slow on account of the
travelling being by dog-sledge. In short, it was
not until the 4th of April, 1728, that is, more than
three years after leaving St. Petersburg, that it was
possible to put on the stocks the vessel in which the
voyage to the north was to be made. But she took
only three months to build, being launched on the
10th of July, when she was named the Gabriel.
Laden with stores for forty men during a year's
voyage, she put to sea ten days afterwards, Bering
keeping close to the coast so that he could map it as he
went. On the 10th of August he was off the island of
St. Lawrence, which he so named, as it was the day of
that saint. In a day or two he had passed the East
Cape without seeing the American coast, and had
entered the Arctic Circle. And on the 15th he was
well through the strait, out in the Arctic Ocean, in
67° 18' off Serdze Kamen, a promontory behind which
the coast trended to the west, as the Chukches had told
him it did ; and he assumed, and rightly so, though he
had not gone far enough to prove it, that there was
no land connection between Asia and America. Where-
upon, as he had in his opinion accomplished his mission,
seeing no need for wintering in those parts, he put
the Gabriel about and was back in the Kamchatka
River on the 20th of September, after a voyage of seven
weeks in a vessel that took three months to build on a
THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
To face page 132
SPANGBERG'S VOYAGE TO JAPAN 133
spot that took over three years to reach — the plan of
campaign being much the same as that in which a
mountain stronghold is advanced on across a desert,
besieged for a few days, and captured by assault.
After wintering, Bering went off next year on a
voyage due east in search of reported land, but, after
some hundred and thirty miles out, he was blown back,
and, rounding the south end of Kamchatka, put in at
the River Bolschaia ; thence he crossed to Ochotsk,
whence he started for St. Petersburg, where he arrived
after an absence of five years. Catherine was dead and
another empress reigned in her stead, who was pleased
and satisfied if no one else was, and the 21st of Feb-
ruary, 1733, saw him starting again in the same
laborious fashion to arrange other voyages as part of a
great scheme for the exploration of Northern and North-
eastern Asia. Some of these expeditions on the north
coast have already been mentioned ; Bering's particular
task was to send Spangberg in search of Japan, while
he and Tschirikof, in separate ships, went eastward to
America. More stores and provisions went overland
across Siberia than before ; Spangberg got again frozen
up on the Judoma and had to continue on foot to
Ochotsk, where he found plenty of food owing to
Bering having sent on ahead, in case of any such
trouble, a hundred horses, each of them laden with
meal. In June, 1738, Spangberg, in two newly-built
vessels and the Gabriel, was off to Japan, to reach the
Kuriles and return to winter in Kamchatka ; but next
year he arrived there all well and found to his astonish-
ment that the Japanese knew as much about maps as
he did. He was still more astonished on his return to
134 BERING STRAIT
be told by those high in office at St. Petersburg that he
could not possibly have been there as they had not got
it on their maps where he said it was, and, consequently,
he was to go where he had been as soon as he could to
make sure. He started on this voyage of verification,
but circumstances were against him and he did not
reach there ; and his Japanese trip remained discredited
until the Russian geographers knew better. His voyage
thither had, however, used such a stock of provisions
that it was two years before the deficiency could be
made up, and it was actually the 4th of September,
1740, seven and a half years after leaving St. Peters-
burg, when Bering, in the specially-built St. Peter, and
Tschirikof, in her sister the St. Paul, got off outward
bound to America.
In about three weeks they were at Awatcha Bay on
the east of Kamchatka, anchored in the fine harbour
named Petropaulovsk after the two ships, and here
they had to stay for the winter, so that they did not
leave Russian territory until the 4th of the following
June. A few days out the ships were separated in a
fog and storm, and the St. Paul reached the American
coast first, at Kruzof Island on the western shore of
Sitka Sound. The St. Peter three days afterwards, on
the 18th of July, drifted to the coast more to the
northward, at Cape St. Elias near the mighty moun-
tain of that name. In this neighbourhood amid much
fog Bering stayed six weeks until he was blown out to
sea, when, his men beginning to die from scurvy, he
resolved to return to Kamchatka. It was a voyage of
misfortune in a continual downfall, the men in want,
misery, and sickness, continuously at work in the cold
#
--
o
H
THE SEA-OTTEll AND THE FUR-SEAL 135
and wet, becoming fewer and fewer, so that there were
not enough to work the ship properly. It ended on
one of the Commander Islands by the vessel being
lifted by the sea clear over a reef into calm water.
Bering died — the island is named after him — and the
survivors of the crew, building a boat from the materials
of the St.. Peter, arrived at Petropaulovsk on the 27th
of August, bringing with them a quantity of sea-otter
skins, which did more for discovery in those seas than
any imperial expedition.
As the sable had brought about the conquest of
Siberia, so did the sea-otter lead to the seizure of the
islands of the Bering Sea and the coasts of Alaska.
Three years after the return of the survivors of the
St. Peter, Nevodtsikof wintered on one of the Aleutian
Islands, and in a few years the fur-hunters were at
their exterminating work over the whole chain. In
time the fur-seal attracted as much attention, and, with
Pribylov's discovery, in 1786, of its rookeries on the
islands named after him, the trade became of such
increasing importance as to endanger in our time the
peace of the world. Every one has heard of the wonder-
ful haunts and habits of that strange eared seal which
seems to have come from the south through the tropics
to breed in the coldest limit of its range, now almost
entirely on the Pribylovs and the Commanders ; how
it is pursued in skin boats and every sort of craft, and
scared in long lines to slaughter by clapping of boards
and bones and waving of flags and opening and shut-
ting of gingham umbrellas, until it promises to become
as extinct as S teller's sea-cow or as rare as the sea-
otter.
136 BERING STRAIT
Following Bering on the way to the north came
Captain James Cook, in H.M.S. Resolution, who gave
Bering's name to the strait. Cook sighted Mount
St. Elias in May, 1778, and, cruising slowly along the
coast with many discoveries and much accurate survey-
ing, was off, and named, Cape Prince of Wales, the
western extremity of America, on the 9th of August.
He then crossed the strait and plied back until on
the 18th he sighted and named Icy Cape in 70° 29'.
Close to the edge of the ice, which was as compact as
a wall, and seemed to be ten or twelve feet high at the
least, he sought persistently for a passage through, but
none was to be found ; and after reaching 70° 6' in
196° 42' (163° 18' W.) on the 19th, he turned westward
to the Asiatic coast, along which he went until he
sighted and named Cape North, as already stated.
Then, blocked by ice, east, north, and west, he re-
turned, passing Cape Serdze Kamen (Bering's farthest)
and naming East Cape, confirming Bering's observation
that it was the most easterly point of Asia.
On Cook's death at Hawaii Captain Charles Clerke,
of the accompanying vessel H.M.S. Discovery, took
command of the expedition and carried out Cook's
intention of making another effort during the follow-
ing year. The ice conditions were, however, worse.
The two ships found the ice block further south, and
as impenetrable as before, and Clerke's highest was
70° 33' on the American side, on the 19th of July.
As it was Cook's last voyage, so it was Clerke's. He
was in a bad way with consumption, and continued his
work in the north, though, under the special circum-
stances and being in command, he could at any time
a
a.
o
H
W
en
<
en
BEECHEY'S VOYAGE 137
have given up the obviously hopeless attempt and left
for a more genial climate, in which he would at least
have had a chance of longer life ; but, remaining at
his duty, he died at sea on the 22nd of August, and
was buried at Petropaulovsk.
Captain Beechey, in H.M.S. Blossom, passed through
the strait in 1826 when sent north from the Pacific
with a view of meeting with his old commander,
Franklin, then on his second land journey. Beechey
took the ship to Icy Cape, whence on the 17th of
August he despatched the barge under the master,
Thomas Elson, to survey the coast to the north-east-
ward as far as he could go in three weeks, there and
back. Elson reached his farthest on the 25th at a spit
of land jutting out several miles from the more regular
coast-line, the width of the neck not exceeding a mile
and a half, broadest at its extremity, with several
frozen lakes on it, and a village, whose natives proved
so troublesome that it was thought unsafe to land.
This was Point Barrow, in 71° 23' 31", longitude
156° 21' 30", the northernmost land on the western
half of the American continent. To the eastward
curved a wide bay — named Elson Bay by Beechey-
the shore-line of which joined on to the ice pack that
encircled the horizon. Here he was within a hundred
and sixty miles of where Franklin had turned back a
week before. Though Beechey did not meet Franklin
he did most useful work in these parts, for by him the
whole coast was surveyed between Point Barrow and
Point Rodney, to the south of Prince of Wales Cape.
Franklin was also the cause of the appearance of
the next British expedition in the strait. This was in
138 BERING STRAIT
1848, Captain Henry Kellett, in H.M.S. Herald, with
Commander Thomas Moore in H.M.S. Plover, forming
the western detachment of the first series of search
expeditions. There were three detachments, one to
follow the Erebus and Terror from the eastward,
another under John Richardson to descend the Mac-
kenzie and search the northern coast, the other coming
in from the west to meet the ships should they have
made the passage. On this duty the Herald and
Plover were hereabouts for three seasons, the Plover
wintering, the Herald going south when the naviga-
tion closed.
In October, 1826, Beechey had buried a barrel of
flour for Franklin on the sandy point of Chamisso
Island, ample directions for finding it being cut and
painted on the rock, and to call the attention of the
party to the spot the name of the Blossom was painted
on the cliffs of Puffin Island. When the Herald was
at Chamisso Island in 1849 Captain Kellett searched
for this flour and found it. A considerable space was
cleared round the cask, its chimbs were freed, and, only
adhering to the sand by the two lower bilge staves, it
required the united strength of two boats' crews, with
a parbuckle and a large spar as a lever, to free it
altogether. The sand was frozen so hard that it
emitted sparks with every blow of the pickaxe. The
cask itself was perfectly sound and the hoops good,
and out of the 336 Ib. of flour which it contained,
175 Ib. were as sweet and well tasted as any he had
with him ; so good indeed was it that Captain Kellett
gave a dinner party, at which all the pies and puddings
were made of this flour.
THE PARKA OF THE ALASKAN INNUITS
(THE SHORTER COAT is THAT UORN BY THE MEN)
To face page 138
KELLETTS VOYAGE 139
After the dinner party, on the 18th of July, the two
vessels started for the north, being joined as soon as
they stood from the anchorage by Robert Shedden in
his yacht the Nancy Dawson, who at his own initiative
had come up from Hong Kong to join in the search.
From Wainwright Inlet Kellett sent off the boats
under Lieutenant Pullen, two of which made the
journey along the northern coast and up the Mac-
kenzie, their crews thence making their way home east-
wards to York Factory.
When Kellett was about to commence his observa-
tions at the inlet he drew a semicircle on the sand from
water's edge to water's edge, and placed the boats'
noses between its points. The natives seemed to
understand the meaning of this line. Not one of them
attempted to overstep it, and they squatted down and
remained perfectly quiet and silent. When a stranger
arrived they shouted to him, and he no sooner com-
prehended the directions than he crept rather than
walked to the boundary, and squatted among the rest.
Afterwards they danced and sang and played football
with the seamen — who stood no chance with them at
that game — and when they had gone off, after all this
good behaviour, it was discovered that they had been
picking the pockets of some of the party, one losing a
handkerchief, another a glove, and Commander Moore
a box of percussion caps.
The boat party had a similar experience, without the
pocket-picking. Reaching Point Barrow they landed
to make observations and look about for traces of the
visit of the Blossoms boat, which they did not find.
Their interpreter did not understand the tribe, and
140 BERING STRAIT
recourse was had to the universal language of signs.
" We made a rude model of a vessel," says Lieutenant
Hooper, " and performed sundry antics to signify what
we were in search of, but could elicit no information,
and so set to work at obtaining observations. We con-
cluded that these people must have been entirely mis-
understood. Far from evidencing any disposition to
assail or molest us, they were most docile and well-
behaved, agreeably disappointing us in their conduct.
When we arrived on the hillock, all, big and little, sat
down around us, and I amused myself by filling their
pipes, becoming a great favourite immediately in conse-
quence. They had among them a great many knives,
which we feared would influence the magnet. Mr.
Pullen therefore kindly drew off the crowd to a dis-
tance, distributing among them tobacco, beads, snuff,
etc., and much to their credit be it said, there was
neither confusion nor contention, each taking his
allotted portion, and seeming delighted with his good
fortune. They took care not to come near the instru-
ments, finding that we did not like their approach ; one
or two indeed came towards us, but retired instantly
when laughingly motioned back, and this should be
considered as a display of great forbearance, inasmuch
as their curiosity must have been highly excited.
When the observations were concluded they were
allowed to inspect the objects of their wonder ; then
fast and thickly to utterance flew their expressions of
astonishment at the — to them — novel and splendid
instruments. The trough of quicksilver, liquid and
restless, especially attracted them, pleasure and wonder
were evident at the simple view, but when one or two
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BERRY'S VOYAGE 141
had permission to take some from the dish, and found
it ever elude the grasp, their astonishment knew no
bounds."
From Wainwright Inlet, which is between Icy Cape
and Point Barrow, the Herald sailed along the pack to
the westward, reaching her highest north, 72° 51', in
163° 48', and, on the 17th of August, Kellett landed
on and named Herald Island in 71° 17' 45", a mass of
granite towering nine hundred feet above the sea, under
five miles long and three broad, inhabited mainly by
black and white divers and yielding the collector only
four flowering plants. Further to the west he sighted
Wrangell Island, sailed past and named by the Ameri-
can whaling captain, Thomas Long, in August, 1867.
In 1881 Wrangell Island was thoroughly explored
by another search expedition, that of Captain Berry in
the American ship Rodgers, who was in these parts
looking out for traces of the Jeannette. He found it
to be, not a continent as some had supposed, but an
island forty miles broad and sixty-six miles long, about
thirty miles from Herald Island and eighty from the
Siberian coast; and on it, as on all these Siberian
islands and the coast of Alaska, remains of the mam-
moth were found. Examining the ice to the north-
ward, he reached 73° 44' in 171° 30', being fifty-three
miles further north than Kellett and twenty -four miles
further than Collinson in 1850. Returning from the
north to winter quarters he achieved another Arctic
record in his ship being destroyed by fire in St. Law-
rence Bay on the Asiatic side of Bering Strait.
Opposite this, on the American side, from Cape
York downwards the land trends away to the south-
142 BERING STRAIT
east to Norton Sound, in which are the mouths of the
Yukon, one of the mightiest rivers of the world, its
volume being as great as, or according to some writers
greater than, the Mississippi. In a course of two thou-
sand miles it runs northwards to the Arctic Circle at
the now abandoned trading post of Fort Yukon, where
its waters are reinforced by its tributary, the Rat or
Porcupine, coming in from the north-east, and given
their seaward direction to the south-west. Up this
vast waterway in 1866 went Frederick Whymper and
William H. Ball.
Beginning with a sledge journey of a hundred and
seventy miles from Unalachleet, they struck the Yukon
on the 10th of November, gliding down a high steep
bank on to it. Hardly a patch of clear ice was to be
seen, the snow covering the whole extent. Accumula-
tions of hummocks had in many places been forced on
the surface before the river had become thoroughly
frozen, and the water was still open, running swiftly in
a few isolated streaks. From bank to bank was not less
than a mile, the stream flowing among several islands.
As they sledged up the river the dreary expanse of
snow made them almost forget they were on a sheet of
ice ; and, as it winds considerably, their course was
often from bank to bank to cut off corners and bends.
Many cliffs abutted on the stream, and islands of
sombre green forest studded it in all directions.
On the 15th they reached Nulato, six hundred miles
from the mouth, where they spent the winter. Here
they found a curious method of fishing practised all
through the season. Early in the winter large piles or
stakes had been driven down into the bed of the river,
to
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UP THE YUKON 143
and to these were affixed wickerwork traps like eel-pots
on a large scale, oblong holes being kept open over
them by frequently breaking the ice. This was cold
work, for the temperature ran low. " In November
and December," says Whymper, "I succeeded in
making sketches of the fort and neighbourhood when
the temperature was as low as thirty degrees below
zero. It was done, it need not be said, with difficulty,
and often by instalments. Between every five strokes
of the pencil, I ran about to exercise myself or went
into our quarters for warmth. The use of water-
colours was of course impracticable — except when I
could keep a pot of warm water on a small fire by my
side — a thing done by me on two or three occasions,
when engaged at a distance from the post. Even
inside the house the spaces near the windows, as well as
the floor, were often below freezing point. Once, for-
getful of the fact, I mixed some colours up with water
that had just stood near the oven, and wetting a small
brush commenced to apply it to my drawing block.
Before it reached the paper it was covered with a skin
of ice, and simply scratched the surface, and I had to
give up for the time being."
On the 12th of May the Nulato River broke up and
ran out on the top of the Yukon ice for more than a
mile up-stream ; and in a few days the ice of the main
river was coming down in a steady flow at a rate of
five or six knots, surging into mountains as it met
with obstacles, and grinding and crashing and carrying
all before it, whole trees and banks being swept away
on its victorious march, the water rising fourteen feet
above the winter level. On the 26th Whymper and
144 BERING STRAIT
Dall started with two Indians and a steersman in a
skin canoe, the river still full of ice, and navigation
difficult. They had proceeded but a short distance
when they came to bends, round which logs and ice
were sweeping at a great rate, so that it was necessary
for a man to stand in the bows of the canoe, with a
pole shod at one end with iron, to push away the masses
of ice and tangle of driftwood. They could often feel
the ice and logs rolling and scraping under the canoe ;
and it was not the thickness of a plank between them
and destruction, but that of a piece of sealskin a
tenth of an inch thick.
On the 7th of June they were two hundred and
forty miles above Nulato, at the junction of the
Tanana, the furthest point reached by the Russians,
and soon were in a part abounding with moose owing
to their seeking refuge in the stream from the millions
of mosquitoes. Here the Indian hunters were busy,
not wasting powder and shot, but manoeuvring round
the swimming deer in their birch-bark canoes until they
tired the victim out ; and then stealthily approaching,
securing it with a stab from their knives.
After twenty-six laborious days against the stream
they reached Fort Yukon, the then furthest outpost
of the Hudson's Bay Company, six hundred miles
from Nulato, and, of course, managed and victualled
from the east. Here the amount of peltry was
astonishing, the fur-room of the fort containing
thousands of marten skins, hanging from the beams,
and huge piles of common furs lying around, together
with a considerable number of foxes, black and silver-
grey, and many skins of the wolverine, thought so
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FORT YUKON 145
much more of by the Indians than by any one else
that they are used as a medium of exchange. All
these furs were brought in from the surrounding
districts, far and near, and traded for goods, as widely
distributed, among the native tribes whose repre-
sentatives gathered at the fort in such a miscellaneous
crowd that perhaps half a dozen dialects were heard in
a morning.
In the crowd the busiest and most prominent were
the primitive Tananas, gay with feathers and painted
faces, looking like survivals among the local Kutchins
and the Kutchins of the upper river, the Birch River
men, and the Rat River men by whom the skins were
brought from the natives of the northern coast, as
were the messages from the Franklin search parties.
Indians were all of these, distinguishable by their
wearing the hyaqua or tooth-shell (Dentalium entails]
through the septum of the nose, while the Mahlemut
wears a bone on each side of the mouth, a practice
common with all the Inmiit, or Eskimo tribes, from
the Aliaska Peninsula to Point Barrow, unless some
other form of labret happens to be the local fashion.
CHAPTER VIII
THE AMERICAN MAINLAND
The Hudson's Bay Company — Samuel Hearne — His journey down the
Coppermine River — The North West Fur Company — Sir Alexander
Mackenzie — His journey down the Mackenzie — Sir John Franklin's first
land journey — Fort Enterprise — Back's journey to Athabasca— The rapids
of the Coppermine— Point Turnagain reached — The Wilberforce Falls—
The terrible crossing of the Barren Grounds — Franklin's second land
journey — Richardson's voyage to the eastward — Discovers Wollaston
Land and Dolphin and Union Strait — Franklin's voyage to Return Reef-
Back's journey down the Great Fish River — Discovers Montreal Island
and King William Land — The Parry Falls— Sir George Simpson — Peter
Warren Dease and Thomas Simpson — Exploration of the coast between
Return Reef and Point Barrow — Simpson advances beyond Point Turn-
again and discovers Victoria Land and Dease Strait — Their second voyage
down the Coppermine — Discovery of Simpson Strait — Reach the Great
Fish River — Their farthest east — Complete the survey of the northern
coast between Boothia and Bering Strait — The first to find the North-West
Passage.
FOR two elks and two black beavers, paid yearly
whensoever the King of England entered their
estate, the Hudson's Bay Company were, in 1670,
presented by Charles II with the northern part of the
American mainland, thus ensuring an ample stretch of
British territory along the passage to the South Sea.
But the company soon ceased to be interested in any
such passage, rinding quite enough to do in developing
the very profitable fur trade of their vast possessions.
With the exception of John Knight's disastrous voyage
to Marble Island in 1719, whatever attempts at dis-
coveries there may have been were kept quiet for fear
146
MAHLEMUT MAN
To face page 146
HEARNE AND MACKENZIE 147
of aiding their rivals the French to the south, who
were fostering the trade in the region of the great
lakes ; and not until the French dominion ended in
1763 and the Frenchmen's interests were passing to
an opposition British company was any effort made to
explore the coast of the Polar Sea.
Owing to Indian reports of rich deposits of native
copper and an abundance of fur-bearing animals,
Samuel Hearne, once a midshipman in the Royal
Navy, was sent by the company in 1769 to explore
to the west and north. After a journey of thirteen
hundred miles to the west he found the Coppermine
River and the Great Slave Lake, and he traced the
river to its mouth and emerged on the northern shore,
being the first known white man to see the Arctic
Ocean between the Boothia Peninsula and Bering
Strait. Among other things he was instructed to dis-
cover a north-west passage, and he certainly did some-
thing definite towards it by showing there was open
water so much further west ; but, though he suspected
it, he was unable to prove that the northernmost point
of the continent was in the unexplored country between
the Coppermine and Hudson Bay.
In 1783 the North West Fur Company was formally
established, and after a severe struggle obtained, owing
mainly to the efforts of Alexander Mackenzie, a fair
share of the trade in the west of the region controlled
by the Hudson's Bay people. Mackenzie was at Fort
Chippewyan, on Lake Athabasca, and thence he was
sent in 1789 on an exploring voyage to the north. In
four birch -bark canoes, one of his party being an
Indian known as English Chief, who had been with
148 THE AMERICAN MAINLAND
Hearne on his journey to the Coppermine, he started
down the Great Slave River into the Great Slave
Lake. After spending twenty days in crossing and
exploring this vast sheet of water, he entered the large
river now bearing his name, and down it amid many
dangers and difficulties, overcome by skill, persuasion,
force, good humour or good fortune, he reached the
sea on the 14th of July. He camped on Whale
Island, the name being given owing to one of the men
sighting a great many animals in the water, which he
at first supposed to be pieces of ice. " However," says
Mackenzie, " I was awakened to resolve the doubts
which had taken place respecting this extraordinary
appearance. I immediately perceived that they were
whales ; and having ordered the canoe to be prepared,
we embarked in pursuit of them. It was indeed a
very wild and unreflecting enterprise, and it was a very
fortunate circumstance that we failed in our attempt
to overtake them, as a stroke from the tail of one of
these enormous fish would have dashed the canoe to
pieces. We may, perhaps, have been indebted to the
foggy weather for our safety, as it prevented us from
continuing our pursuit. Our guide informed us that
they are the same kind of fish which are the principal
food of the Eskimos, and they were frequently seen as
large as our canoe. The part of them which appeared
above the water was altogether white, and they were
much larger than the largest porpoise " — being evidently
belugas (Delphinapterus leucas).
Satisfied with a short canoe voyage on the sea, he
returned to the river and made his way back to the
fort, arriving there in the middle of September. He
FRANKLIN'S FIRST LAND JOURNEY 149
had thus proved the existence of the sea twenty
degrees further west than Hearne had done. Three
years afterwards he started on his notable journey to
the Pacific at Cape Menzies, facing Princess Royal
Island, being the first white man to cross the Rocky
Mountains, and, as he had reached Fort Chippewyan
by way of Montreal, the first to cross North America
above the Gulf of Mexico.
Another of Hearne's Indians accompanied Franklin
on his first land journey in 1819, the object of which
was to explore the coast between Hearne's farthest and
Hudson Bay, thus filling in the gap in which the
assumed northern promontory was to be found.
Franklin, who was sent out by the British Govern-
ment, had with him, as surgeon and naturalist, Dr.,
afterwards Sir, John Richardson, to whom as a boy
Robert Burns had lent Spenser's Faerie Quecne, a
naval surgeon with a distinguished record, who while
on half-pay had studied botany and mineralogy at
Edinburgh. Like another member of the expedition,
George Back, who had been with Franklin in the
Trent and Dorothea voyage, he was destined to gain
a great reputation among Arctic explorers. With
Back was another midshipman, Robert Hood, whose
fate it was to be murdered by an Iroquois half-breed
who, through want of food, betook himself to canni-
balism.
Landing at York Factory, in Hudson Bay, after an
exciting voyage, on the 30th of August, Franklin,
disregarding local advice, pushed on across the continent
during the winter, arriving at Fort Chippewyan on the
26th of March, the losses and trying experiences of
150 THE AMERICAN MAINLAND
the long journey being mainly due to the rigours of
the climate at that time of year ; and thence, in July,
the party followed Mackenzie's route to Fort Provi-
dence on Great Slave Lake. Here they were joined
by Mr. Wentzel, of the North West Company.
Starting for the north on the 2nd of August in four
canoes, they were joined next day at the mouth of the
Yellow Knife by a band of Indians, under a chief
named Akaitcho, in seventeen canoes. The Indians
were to guide the party and supply them with food by
hunting and fishing on the way, but game and fish
proved scarce — and scarcer owing to the poorness of
the Indian marksmanship — provisions were short and
portages long, so that the journey, which soon led
across a series of lakes, was pursued under toilsome
and hazardous conditions until it ended at Winter
Lake in 64° 30', where it became necessary to winter
in a log house built by Wentzel, and named Fort
Enterprise. The site was delightful : a hillside amid
trees three feet in diameter at the roots, the view in
front bounded at a distance of three miles by round-
backed hills, to the eastward and westward the Winter
and Roundrock Lakes connected by the Winter River,
its banks clothed with pines and ornamented with a
profusion of mosses, lichens, and shrubs.
In a few weeks, however, the weather became so
severe that, according to Franklin, the trees froze to
their very centres and became as hard as stones, on
which some of the axes were broken daily, until but
one was left. And though at first the reindeer appeared
in numbers, their visits lasted only for a short time,
and the party, short of tobacco for the Canadian
W)
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BACK'S JOURNEY TO FORT CHIPPEWYAN 151
voyageurs and of ammunition for the Indians, had so
poor an outlook that it became necessary to accept
Back's proposal to return to the forts and bring on
supplies which had not been forwarded as promised ;
the failure being due to the journey, unlike the
successful ventures of Hearne and Mackenzie, being
pushed on regardless of climatal conditions, and, in
some degree, to the rivalry between the two fur com-
panies which were amalgamated while the expedition
was in progress.
Back set out accompanied by Wentzel and two
Canadians and two Indians and their wives, crossing
lakes frozen just hard enough to bear them, going wide
circuits to avoid those which were open, amid mist and
fog and storm, over rugged, bare country, through
dense woods and snow-covered swamps, rafting across
a river with pine branches for paddles, until Fort
Providence was reached. From here he sent back
Belanger with letters and a hundred bullets he pro-
cured on loan. Belanger arrived at Fort Enterprise
on the 23rd of October alone ; he had walked con-
stantly for the last six-and-thirty hours through a
storm, his locks were matted with snow, and he was
encrusted with ice from head to foot, so that he was
scarcely recognised when he slipped in through the
doorway.
At Fort Providence Back had to wait until the
Great Slave Lake was frozen over. On the 18th of
November he observed two mock moons at equal
distances from the central one, the whole encircled by
a halo, the colour of the inner edge of the large circle
a light red inclining to a faint purple ; and two days
152 THE AMERICAN MAINLAND
afterwards two parhelia were observable, with a halo,
the colours of the inner edge of the circle a bright
carmine and red -lake intermingled with a rich yellow
forming a purplish orange, the outer edge being a pale
gamboge. On the 7th of December he left, sledging
across the lake before the wind, for the North West fort
on Moose Deer Island, and finding at the Hudson's
Bay fort, also on the island, five packages of belated
supplies and two Eskimo interpreters on their way to
Franklin.
Here he was told that nothing could be spared at
Fort Chippewyan, that goods had never been trans-
ported so far in the winter season, that the same dogs
could not go and return, and that from having to walk
constantly on snow-shoes he would suffer a great deal
of misery and fatigue. Nevertheless he undertook the
journey in dog-sledges with a Canadian and an Indian,
leaving Wentzel behind. At times the weather was so
cold that they had to run to keep themselves warm,
and, owing to the snow, the feet of the dogs became so
raw that an endeavour was made to fit them with
shoes. With legs and ankles so swollen that it was
painful to drag the snow-shoes after him, Back hurried
on, reaching Fort Chippewyan on the 2nd of January
to find that he and all Franklin's party had been
reported to have been killed by Eskimos. Here he had
to wait a month, and then, with an instalment of what
he wanted, he set out on his return, arriving at Fort
Enterprise on St. Patrick's Day after a memorable
journey of over a thousand miles.
During his absence he was told that the cold had
been so severe that Hood had found accurate observing
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THE RAPIDS OF THE COPPERMINE 153
difficult owing to the sextant having changed its error
and the glasses lost their parallelism from the contrac-
tion of the brass, a circumstance, combined with the
crystallisation of the mercury of the artificial horizon,
that might account for some of the diversity of results
obtained by Arctic navigators. And Richardson had
to tell him of an early discovery that when fishing and
the hands get cold by hauling in the line, the best way
to warm them is to put them in the water ; and how the
fish had frozen as they were taken out of the water so
that by a blow or two of the hatchet they were easily
split open, leaving the intestines removable in one lump,
and yet that these much -frozen fish retained their
vitality so that he had seen a thawed carp recover so
far as to leap about with much vigour after it had been
frozen for thirty-six hours.
On the 14th of June Fort Enterprise was left, and
on the 25th the expedition began to cross Point Lake
on the way to the Coppermine, the river being reached
through Rocknest Lake on the 30th. Down the river
they paddled, taking the rapids as they went — in one
place three miles of them on end. " We were carried
along with extraordinary rapidity, shooting over large
stones, upon which a single stroke would have been
destructive to the canoes ; and we were also in danger
of breaking them, from the want of the long poles
which lie along their bottoms and equalise their cargoes,
as they plunged very much, and on one occasion the
first canoe was almost filled with the waves ; but there
was no receding after we had once launched into the
stream, and our safety depended on the skill and dex-
terity of the bowmen and steersmen."
154 THE AMERICAN MAINLAND
There were rapids day by day affording almost every
possible chance of wreck except that due to driftwood ;
the two worst being one where the stream descends for
three-quarters of a mile in a deep but narrow and
crooked channel which it has cut through the foot
of a hill of five hundred or six hundred feet high,
confined between perpendicular cliffs resembling stone
walls varying in height from eighty to a hundred and
fifty feet, on which lies a mass of fine sand ; the body
of the river pent within this narrow chasm dashing
furiously round the projecting rocky columns as it dis-
charges itself at the northern extremity in a sheet of
foam. The other being where the river flows between
lofty stone cliffs, reddish clay rocks and shelving banks
of white clay, and is full of shoals. Franklin's people
had entered this rapid before they were aware of it,
and the steepness of the cliffs prevented them from
landing, so that they owed their preservation to the swift-
ness of their descent. Two waves made a complete
breach over the canoes ; a third would probably have
filled and overset them, which would have proved fatal
to all on board. This Escape Rapid, as it was named,
was, as it were, the gate into the territory of the Eskimos
who were soon met with in small parties all the way
down to the sea. It was passed on the 15th of July ;
three days afterwards the Indians bade farewell to the
expedition in the morning, and in the afternoon the
canoes were afloat on the Arctic Ocean.
From the river mouth Wentzel returned, as arranged,
with despatches, taking with him a number of voyageurs
and others, thus reducing the party to twenty in all in
two canoes. In these Franklin, nearly two years after
KUTCHIN INDIANS
To face page 154
THE WILBERFORCE FALLS 155
he had landed in America, went on his voyage to the
eastward to enter at last on the work he had been sent
to do. But the survey of this lofty rocky coast was no
easy matter ; the sea was rough, the weather tempestu-
ous, the canoes were lightly built and only suited for
river work, and, in short, it was a most risky enterprise.
Tracing the shore of Coronation Gulf and coasting up
and out of Bathurst Inlet, Franklin reached Point Turn-
again in 109° 25' W., at the entrance of Dease Strait, on
the 16th of August, 1821. Though the voyage had
extended over only six and a half degrees of longitude,
he had sailed 555 geographical miles ; and then, as his
resources did not permit of his going further or of his
returning to the Coppermine, and in his own words
" Our scanty stock of provisions rendering it necessary
to make for a nearer place," he, on the 22nd, turned
back to ascend the Hood River.
Here they soon reached the Wilberforce Falls,
beautiful and remarkable, but not easy of navigation.
" In the evening," says Franklin in his journal, " we
encamped at the lower end of a narrow chasm through
which the river flows for upwards of a mile. The walls
of this chasm are upwards of two hundred feet high,
quite perpendicular, and in some places only a few yards
apart. The river precipitates itself into it over a rock
forming two magnificent and picturesque falls close to
each other. The upper fall is about sixty feet high,
and the lower one at least one hundred, but perhaps
considerably more, for the narrowness of the chasm
into which it fell prevented us from seeing its bottom
and we could merely discern the top of the spray far
beneath our feet. The lower fall is divided into two by
156 THE AMERICAN MAINLAND
an insulated column of rock which rises about forty
feet above it."
As the river above the falls appeared too rapid and
shallow for the large canoes they were taken to pieces,
and two smaller ones built from their materials. The
voyage in these lasted but three days, when the river
was abandoned as trending too far to the west, and the
party, carrying the canoes, proceeded overland to Point
Lake on their struggle of starvation across the Barren
Grounds. For days they had nothing to eat but lichens
-species of Gyrophora or Umbilicaria known as tripe-
de-roche — a diet varied with leather, burnt bones and
skins, an occasional ptarmigan, and, once, a musk ox,
until they were so weak that when a herd of reindeer
went strolling past they had not strength enough to
shoot at them.
The tragedy need not be lingered over. Back was
again sent for help, and, finding no stores at Fort
Enterprise, was on his way to Fort Providence when he
fell in with Akaitcho, who at once hurried to the rescue ;
and on the 14th of July, 1822, Franklin, Richardson,
Back, and Hepburn the seaman, who had behaved as a
hero all through, returned to York Factory after a
three years' journey, fraught with peril and horror, by
land and water, of over six thousand three hundred
statute miles.
After he had been at home a year, Franklin suggested
that another attempt should be made to survey the
northern coast while Parry was at work in search of the
North- West Passage. The suggestion was accepted.
Accompanied by Richardson and Back, and by E. N.
Kendall as assistant surveyor — who had been out with
FRANKLIN'S SECOND LAND JOURNEY 157
Captain Lyon in the same capacity — and by Thomas
Drummond as assistant naturalist, he left Liverpool on
the 26th of February, 1825.
Taught by experience, the expedition was better
managed in every way. Instead of driving ahead
regardless of the season or the trade routine, the
ordinary conditions of local travel were kept in view
throughout, and the results were more in proportion
to the effort. Three boats were specially built at
Woolwich on Franklin's design and under Buchan's
superintendence. They were of mahogany with timbers
of ash, both ends alike, steerable by oar or rudder, the
largest 26 ft. by 5 ft. 4 ins., the two others 24 ft. by
4 ft. 10 ins., and with them Colonel Pasley's portable
boat, known as the Walnut Shell from its shape, 9 ft.
long and half as wide, with frames of ash fastened with
thongs and covered with canvas. The canvas was
"waterproofed by Mr. Macintosh, of Glasgow" -the
first instance of its use — and for the first time also what
we know as macintosh coats and overalls were issued
as part of the outfit, the process having been patented
in 1824.
The boats and stores were sent on ahead by way of
York Factory in 1824, and Franklin and his party,
travelling by New York and the lakes, caught them up
on the Methye River at sunrise on the 29th of June.
With them were several old friends, not the least
delighted being the two Eskimo interpreters, Augustus
and Ooligbuck, who were to be of the utmost import-
ance throughout. On the 8th of August they had got
along so well that they were at the junction of the Bear
Lake River with the Mackenzie. Here Back and Peter
158 THE AMERICAN MAINLAND
Warren Dease of the Hudson's Bay Company, who
had joined the expedition to look after the local
arrangements, were sent off' to build a house to winter
in on the banks of the Great Bear Lake, in Keith's Bay,
where the river leaves it ; Richardson also left to explore
the northern shore of the lake, and Franklin and
Kendall continuing down the Mackenzie reached the
sea before the week was out in less than six months
from their departure from Liverpool. And on the 5th
of September they had returned upstream and were at
their winter quarters at the new house on the lake,
which Back had named Fort Franklin, to find that
Richardson had been along the northern shore and
noted as being the nearest point to the Coppermine the
entrance of the river he had named after Dease, which
was to be of so much service to him later on.
During the winter another boat, the Reliance, was
built on the lines of the Lion, the largest of the Wool-
wich boats, and leaving Dease to complete the stores
for another comfortable winter, the expedition started
on the 24th of June. At Point Separation, at the
head of the Mackenzie delta, Franklin in the Lion
with Back in the Reliance — our old friend Robert
Spinks being his coxswain — took the western arm, and
Richardson in the Dolphin and Kendall in the Union,
carrying the Walnut Shell with them, took the eastern
arm.
Richardson, with a few more or less threatening
encounters with the Eskimos, ending fairly well owing
to Ooligbuck, and in constant danger of wreck avoided
by careful navigation, rounded Cape Bathurst in 70° 36'
and discovered Wollaston Land, the coast-line of which
To face page 158
RICHARDSON'S JOURNEY 159
they left continuing to the east, when they reached
Coronation Gulf and, on the 8th of August, entered
the Coppermine, and thus filled in the gap of nine
hundred and two statute miles from Point Separation.
Leaving the Dolphin and Union at Bloody Fall on that
river, it being impossible to take them further, the
expedition, carrying the Walnut Shell with them, pro-
ceeded along the banks, but finding they had no use
for the portable boat, owing to the shallowness of the
stream, they soon abandoned it, and in 67° 13', where
the river is nearest to the north-eastern arm of Great
Bear Lake, the Coppermine was left and the course
laid across the Barren Grounds for Dease River. This
was reached three days afterwards, Richardson being
met at its mouth by Dease's people on the 24th of
August.
Franklin had similar experiences with the Eskimos,
and was as deeply indebted to Augustus for his tact
and bravery in dealing with them. Coasting along to
the westward, hindered by ice, bad weather and fog,
and tormented by mosquitoes, his progress was much
slower than that of Richardson. Delayed for some
days on or about Foggy Island, he had to give up his
intention of reaching Bering Strait, and not knowing
that Elson with the barge of the Blossom had come as
far east as Point Barrow, he gave the name of Cape
Beechey to the westernmost headland in sight, and
leaving Return Reef in 148° 52' on the 18th of August,
after covering six hundred and ten statute miles through
parts not previously discovered, began his voyage back
to Fort Franklin, where he arrived on the 21st of
September. Meanwhile Richardson had gone off to
160 THE AMERICAN MAINLAND
explore the Great Slave Lake, whence Drummond had
started on his journey among the Rockies ; and, being
unable to get away till another winter had passed,
both Franklin and Richardson landed in England in
September, 1827, after an important and fruitful ex-
pedition that had no death-roll.
Back was again in these regions in 1833 on his
expedition in search of Sir John Ross. Reaching the
Great Slave Lake, he built Fort Reliance at its north-
eastern corner and began the long winter there on the
5th of November. Soon afterwards Akaitcho put in
an appearance, and expressed his intention— which he
did his best to fulfil— of being of as much assistance
as he could ; and later on Augustus made his way
across country to offer his services, but, either exhausted
by suffering and privation, or caught in a snowstorm,
he died alone near the Riviere a Jean.
Temperatures ranging from 50 to 70 minus were of
frequent occurrence, and, on one occasion Back, after
washing his face within a yard of the fire, had his hair
clotted with ice before he had time to dry it. Every
animal was driven away from the neighbourhood by
the cold, except a solitary raven which swept once
round the house and then winged his flight to the
westward. On the 25th of April a messenger arrived
at the fort with the news of the safe return of Sir
John Ross to England, but Back determined to pro-
ceed with the journey for exploring purposes, taking
one boat instead of two, and, with Richard King the
surgeon, and eight men, he started for the Great Fish
River on the 8th of July.
The voyage was a hazardous and adventurous one.
---= =- --
?*>-nr! \ ---=•--- ssfR=i=ilgj
BACK'S JOURNEY DOWN THE GREAT FISH RIVER
To face page 162
BACK ON THE GREAT FISH RIVER 161
For five hundred and thirty geographical miles the
river was found to run through an iron-ribbed country
without a single tree on the whole line of its banks,
expanding into fine large lakes with clear horizons,
most embarrassing to the navigator, and broken into
falls, cascades, and rapids, to the number of no less
than eighty-three, pouring its waters into the Polar
Sea in latitude 67° 11' and longitude 94° 30'; so that
his explorations on the northern coast were confined to
a section further east than Point Turnagain.
The expedition met with its greatest danger at
Escape Rapid, between Lake Macdougall and Lake
Franklin, on the 25th of July. Here the stream was
broken by a mile of heavy and dangerous rapids. The
boat was lightened, and every care taken to avoid
accident ; but so overwhelming was the rush and whirl
of the water, that she, and consequently those in her,
were twice in imminent peril of being plunged into
one of the gulfs formed in the rocks and hollows. It
was in one of these places, which are fall, rapid, and
eddy within a few yards, that the boat owed its safety
to an unintentional disobedience of the steersman's
directions.
The power of the water so far exceeded whatever
had been witnessed on any of the other rivers that the
precautions used elsewhere were weak and unavailing.
McKay, the steersman, was endeavouring to clear a fall
and some sunken rocks on the left, but the man to
whom he spoke misunderstood him, and did exactly the
reverse ; and then, seeing the danger, the steersman
swept the stern round ; instantly the boat was caught
by an eddy to the right, which, snapping an oar, twirled
M
162 THE AMERICAN MAINLAND
her irresistibly broadside on ; so that for a moment it
seemed uncertain whether the boat was to be hurled
into the hollow of the fall, or dashed stern foremost on
the sunken rocks. Of how it happened no account can
be given, but her head swung inshore towards the beach
and thereby gave an opportunity for some of the men
to spring into the water and by their united strength
rescue her from her perilous position. Had the man
to whom the first order was given understood and acted
on it no human power could have saved the crew from
being buried in the abyss. Nor yet could any blame be
justly attached to the steersman, who had never been so
situated before and whose coolness and self-possession
never in this imminent peril forsook him. At the
awful moment of suspense, when one of the crew with
less nerve than his companions began to cry aloud to
Heaven for aid, McKay in a still louder voice ex-
claimed, " Is this a time for praying ? Pull your star-
board oar." Never could a reminder that laborare est
orare have been more opportune.
On the 1st of August Montreal Island was reached.
Nine days afterwards a log of driftwood, nine feet long
and nine inches in diameter, jocularly described as a
piece of the North Pole, was found on the beach,
which, as there are no trees on the Fish River or the
Coppermine, Captain Back was of opinion must
have come from the Mackenzie and drifted eastward, so
that he was on the main line of the land. The in-
ference, confirmed by the appearance of a whale, was
correct, but, misled, perhaps, by hilly islands, he missed
the channel through which it had come, blocking it,
in the manner of John Ross, with a range of mountains
THE PARRY FALLS 163
that does not exist. Though he reached Mount Barrow
and mistook the head of Simpson Strait for an inlet,
thus failing to find one of the north-west passages, he
discovered and named King William Land and sighted
Point Booth at its eastern extremity. An attempt to
reach Point Turnagain to the westward and thus link
up with Franklin's farthest east, in which he might
have discovered the passage, proving impracticable
owing to the bogginess of the ground, Back began his
return from King William Land in latitude 68° 13',
longitude 94° 58', and entered on a wearisome journey
up the river and lakes he had come down, meeting
with a party from Fort Reliance on the 17th of
September.
A week after, when within a couple of days of the
fort, on that " small but abominable river " the Ah-hel-
dessy from Artillery Lake, Back discovered the Anderson
Falls. Toiling along over the mountains, every man
with a seventy-five-pound package on his back, he had
not proceeded more than six or seven miles when, observ-
ing the spray rising from another fall, he was induced to
visit it and was well consoled for having left the boat
behind. " From the only point," says Back, " at which
the greater part of it was visible, we could distinguish
the river coming sharp round a rock, and falling into
an upper basin almost concealed by intervening rocks ;
whence it broke in one vast sheet into a chasm between
four and five hundred feet deep, yet in appearance so
narrow that we fancied we could almost step across it.
Out of this the spray rose in misty columns several
hundred feet above our heads ; but as it was impossible
to see the main fall from the side on which we were, in
164- THE AMERICAN MAINLAND
the following spring I paid a second visit to it,
approaching from the western bank. The road to it,
which I then traversed in snow-shoes, was fatiguing in
the extreme, and scarcely less dangerous ; for, to say
nothing of the steep ascents, fissures in the rocks, and
deep snow in the valleys, we had sometimes to creep
along the narrow shelves of precipices slippery with the
frozen mist that fell on them. But it was a sight that
well repaid any risk. My first impression was of a
strong resemblance to an iceberg in Smeerenberg
Harbour, Spitsbergen. The whole face of the rocks
forming the chasm was entirely coated with blue,
green, and white ice, in thousands of pendent icicles ;
and there were, moreover, caverns, fissures, and over-
hanging ledges in all imaginable varieties of form, so
curious and beautiful as to surpass anything of which I
had ever heard or read. The immediate approaches
were extremely hazardous, nor could we obtain a per-
fect view of the lower fall, in consequence of the pro-
jection of the western cliffs. At the lowest position
we were able to attain, we were still more than a
hundred feet above the level of the river beneath ; and
this, instead of being narrow enough to step across, as it
had seemed from the opposite heights, was found to be
at least two hundred feet wide. The colour of the water
varied from a very light to a very dark green ; and the
spray, which spread a dimness above, was thrown up in
clouds of light grey. Niagara, Wilberforce Falls on
Hood River, the falls of Kakabikka near Lake
Superior, the Swiss or Italian falls — although they may
each charm the eye with dread — are not to be compared
to this for splendour of effect. It was the most im-
SIR GEORGE SIMPSON 165
posing spectacle I had ever witnessed ; and, as its berg-
like appearance brought to mind associations of another
scene, I bestowed upon it the name of our celebrated
navigator, Sir Edward Parry, and called it Parry's
Falls."
Back, like Franklin, owed much of the success of
his expedition to the cordial help of the Governor of
the Hudson's Bay Company, George, afterwards Sir
George, Simpson. Ever the fastest of travellers in the
north, Simpson had, in 1828, made a 3260-mile canoe
voyage from Hudson Bay to the Pacific, passing the
Rockies through canyons previously untried, and
slipping down mountain torrents and through unknown
rapids at such speed that hostile Indians let him pass
in sheer amazement ; and all his life he was dis-
tinguished for similar energy and celerity. When it
became clear that the British Government had no
immediate intention of completing the survey of the
northern coast, Simpson organised an expedition at the
Company's expense to undertake the task, and entrusted
the leadership to Dease, who had done such excellent
work for Franklin ; and with Dease he associated his
own nephew, Thomas Simpson, in no way inferior to
his uncle in energy, speediness, or decision of character,
being in fact one of our very best explorers, Arctic or
otherwise.
Thomas Simpson, Master of Arts of Aberdeen and a
winner of the Huttonian, began characteristically by
starting off to Fort Garry — now Winnipeg— with a
view, as he says, "to refresh and extend my astro-
nomical practice which had for some years been inter-
rupted by avocations of a very different nature " ; and
166 THE AMERICAN MAINLAND
thence, in the winter, making his way to Fort Chippe-
wyan, a journey of 1277 miles, joining Dease there
more than a month before he was expected. Two
boats were built, light clinker craft of 24 ft. keel and
6 ft. beam, adapted for shallow navigation by their
small draught, both alike and honoured with the
classical names of the heavenly twins, Castor and
Pollux, each boat provided with a small oiled canvas
canoe and portable wooden frame. Of one, the steers-
man was the redoubtable James McKay — " Pull your
starboard oar 1 " -and of the other, George Sinclair,
Back's bowman ; and one of the bowmen was Felix,
who had been with Franklin in 1826. All told, the
expedition numbered fourteen.
Leaving Fort Chippewyan on the 1st of June, 1837,
they reached Bear Lake River on the 3rd of July, and
six days afterwards were out on the sea. On the 23rd
of July they camped at Return Reef, that is to say
they had traversed the whole extent of Franklin's
survey in a fortnight, and not without danger from
the ice and losing much time by doubling the floes,
however far they extended seawards. Once Simpson's
boat, which was of course leading, was only saved from
destruction by throwing out everything it contained
upon the floating masses. By means of portages made
from one fragment to another, the oars forming the
perilous bridges, and after repeated risks of boats, men,
and baggage being separated by the motion of the ice,
they succeeded with much labour in collecting the
whole equipment on one floe, which, being covered
with water, formed a sort of wet dock. There they
hauled up the boats, momentarily liable to be over-
THOMAS SIMPSON 167
whelmed by the turning over of the ice, three miles
from land, with the fog settled round them throughout
the inclement night.
Continuing westwards along new country, they
reached and named Cape George Simpson (after the
Governor) and, a little further on, Boat Extreme,
where, from the coldness of the weather and the inter-
minable ice, the further advance of the boats appeared
to be so hopeless that Dease agreed to stay in charge
of them while Simpson with five men, including
McKay and Felix, pushed ahead for Point Barrow on
foot. Passing McKay Inlet and Sinclair River, named
after the two steersmen, an Eskimo camp was reached,
where Simpson exchanged his tin plate for a platter
made out of a mammoth tusk, and borrowed an oomiak
which floated in about half a foot of water. In this
useful skin boat the journey was resumed to Point
Barrow, and on the 4th of August the survey com-
pleted between Franklin's farthest and Elson's.
The winter was passed at the mouth of the Dease
River, on Great Bear Lake, where Fort Confidence
had been built ready for the expedition on its return.
On the 6th of June, 1838, a start for the coast was
made by the Coppermine route, that river being reached
on the 22nd, and its descent accomplished, on the spring
flood, in nine days. But it was a bad season, and the
navigation was so hampered by ice that no start was
made to the eastward until the 17th of July. At
Boathaven, in 109° 20', Simpson again left the boats
and went ahead with Sinclair and six others who had
not been to Point Barrow. Passing Franklin's farthest
at Point Turnagain, he kept on for a hundred miles
168 THE AMERICAN MAINLAND
along the whole length of Dease Strait, discovering
and naming Victoria Land, reaching Beaufort River
beyond Cape Alexander, and sighting an open sea to
the eastward. From here, in 106° 3', the return began ;
and by many devices and the unfailing skill of McKay
and Sinclair, the two boats were taken up the Copper-
mine stream, falls and rapids and all, to the nearest
point to Fort Confidence, where they were hauled up
in readiness for next year.
On the 22nd of June, 1839, the boats again left for
the sea ; and they were run down to Bloody Fall with-
out a stoppage in eleven hours. Again there were
fourteen all told in them, but this time one of the men
was Ooglibuck, who had come specially from Ungava in
Labrador, in the wonderful time of three months less
eight days, to join the expedition which was to meet
with great success and accomplish an Arctic boat
journey of over sixteen hundred statute miles.
Entirely blocked until the 3rd of July, and hindered
by ice difficulties all the way, the boats did not reach
the previous year's farthest until the 28th of July.
On the llth of August, through an outlet only three
miles wide, they passed into the much-desired eastern
sea. " That glorious sight," says Simpson, after whom
the strait is named, " was first beheld by myself from
the top of one of the high limestone islands, and I had
the satisfaction of announcing it to some of the men
who, incited by curiosity, followed me thither. The
joyful news was soon conveyed to Mr. Dease, who was
with the boats at the end of the island, about half a
mile off." On the continent and on King William
Land, where Franklin's men were in time coming to
DISCOVERY OF SIMPSON STRAIT 169
perish of starvation, reindeer were seen browsing on the
scanty herbage among the shingle. A terrible thunder-
storm followed, and then, doubling a very sharp point
on the 13th, Simpson landed and saw before him a
sandy desert. It was Back's Point Sir C. Ogle that he
had at length reached. Away in the distance was the
Great Fish River, and three days afterwards the party
were encamped on Montreal Island, where McKay led
the way to the provisions and gunpowder deposited by
Back among the rocks.
The expedition had performed its allotted task, and
the men were consulted as to whether they would con-
tinue for a short distance to the eastward. To their
honour they all assented without a murmur ; but the
cruel north-east wind forbade much progress in that
direction, and their farthest east was reached at Castor
and Pollux River. From there immediate return was
imperative, as not a day could be spared. And so,
from latitude 68° 28' 23", longitude 94° 14', they turned
back on the 21st of August, leaving the survey of the
north coast of the American mainland practically com-
plete from Bering Strait to Boothia.
Further, on their return journey they crossed to the
southern shore of King William Land and traced its coast
for nearly sixty miles, discovering and naming Cape
Herschel, south-eastward of which, in Simpson Strait,
M'Clintock found the remains of one of Franklin's
men. They thus linked up with what was to be the
route of the Franklin expedition and were the first to
find the North-West Passage for the command of
which the territory was given by Charles II to the
Hudson's Bay Company.
CHAPTER IX
THE PARRY ISLANDS
John Rae — Wollaston Land and Victoria Strait— Overlaps Franklin's route —
M'Clure discovers Prince of Wales Strait — The North-West Passage —
Banks Land — M'Clure rescued by Bedford Pirn — Collinson's remarkable
voyage — In Beaufort Sea — Reaches Banks Strait — Voyage to Cambridge
Bay — On Franklin's route — The North-West Passage sailed by Amundsen
along the track of the Enterprise — Sir John Barrow — Parry's first voyage
— Penetrates Lancaster Sound and discovers the Parry Islands — Stopped
by ice in Banks Strait — The search for Franklin — Sir John Ross— De
Haven — Penny — Austin — Ommanney — Osborn — Belcher — Kellett—
M'Clintock — Drift of the Resolute — Sledge work — Sverdrup's discoveries
during his four years in the north.
THE second to complete a north-west passage by
linking up with Franklin's voyage was Dr. John
Rae, an Orkneyman by birth, as energetic as Thomas
Simpson and evidently not inferior to him in stamina,
for in his Arctic journeys he walked a distance equal to
that of the circumference of the earth. In 1846 he
had surveyed the Committee Bay district between
Boothia and the Melville Peninsula, reaching it from
Repulse Bay, and in 1848 and 1849 he had been associ-
ated with Richardson in searching for Franklin along the
coast from the Mackenzie eastwards. Next year, while
in charge of the Mackenzie district, he was again re-
quested to lead a Franklin search expedition, and,
starting from Fort Confidence on the 25th of April,
was on the sea by the 1st of May. Crossing over to
Wollaston Land, and making westward along the coast
170
To face page 170
RAE FINDS THE FIRST TRACE OF FRANKLIN 171
on the 22nd of May, he rounded Cape Baring, just
above the seventieth parallel. Crossing to its con-
tinuation, Victoria Land, on a second journey, he
travelled eastward, and, going up Victoria Strait,
rounded Pelly Point, also just above the seventieth
parallel, on the 12th of July, thus practically complet-
ing the survey of the southern half of what Collinson
was to prove is one large island.
Off Pelly Point, it afterwards appeared, the Erebus
and Terror were beset in the ice in September, 1846,
and fifty miles to the south-east they had been
abandoned in April, 1848 ; but the only relic found by
Rae on this occasion was the doubtful one — picked up
in Parker Bay — of the butt-end of a flag-staff on
which was nailed a piece of white line by two copper
tacks, all three bearing the Government mark. This
was the first to be found of anything that could be
thought to be a trace of the missing ships, a sort
of promise of what he was to meet with four years
later ; and it is worth noting that, had he not failed in
getting across the strait to King William Land, Rae
would in 1850 have probably discovered Franklin's
fate.
His farthest in these parts was passed in May, 1853,
by Captain Richard Collinson, in his sledge journey to
Gateshead Island from H.M.S. Enterprise, then winter-
ing in Cambridge Bay. The Enterprise and Investigator
had been placed under Collinson's command and sent
by way of Cape Horn to search for Franklin from
the west, the instructions being that the ships should
not part company ; but regardless of this, Commander
Robert Le Mesurier M'Clure, of the Investigator,
172 THE PARRY ISLANDS
happening to get through Bering Strait first, declined
to wait for his commanding officer, went off on an
expedition on his own account and, by a sledge journey,
joined Parry's track when in search of the North- West
Passage.
Steering north-east from Franklin Bay, M'Clure
reached the south of Parry's Banks Land and followed
the coast north-eastwards, discovering Prince of Wales
Strait and making his way rather more than half-way
up, until, near Princess Royal Island in 72° 50', he
was caught in the ice and imprisoned for the winter.
On Trafalgar Day, 1850, M'Clure left the Investigator
on a sledge journey up the strait, and at sunrise on the
26th of October, from Mount Observation in 73° 30', a
hill six hundred feet above the sea, he looked over
Banks Strait and Melville Sound, and saw the coast of
Banks Land terminating about twelve miles further on
and thence trending to the north-west, while Wollaston
Land, as it proved to be, turned eastward on the other
side at Peel Point. That evening Banks Strait was
reached at Cape Lord John Russell, and the North-
West Passage by Prince of Wales Strait clearly
demonstrated. The spot was not bare of vegetation,
and there were many traces of animals, for, fortunately
for M'Clure, there was no scarcity of game during his
three winterings in Banks Land — reindeer in herds,
musk oxen occasionally, hares in troops, ducks in
plenty, ptarmigan almost as numerous, and bears,
wolves, and foxes to feed on them ; for instance, the
weights of three items in the bag, 1945 Ib. of musk ox,
7716 Ib. of deer, and 1017 Ib. of hare, show fairly good
shooting.
IVTCLURE IN BANKS LAND 173
Enclosing a record of the visit in a cairn, M'Clure
returned to the ship, from which in the spring three
sledge parties were sent out — Cresswell's to the north-
west finding that Banks Land was an island, Wynniatt's
to the north-east reaching Reynolds Point on the north
of Wollaston Land, and Haswell's down Wollaston
Land to within forty miles of where Rae turned back
about a week later — this being the only attempt at
searching for Franklin that the expedition undertook
after sighting Nelson Head. Released in July, the
Investigator retreated down the strait and attempted to
circumnavigate Banks Land, finding to the west a
coast as precipitous as a wall, the water deep — fifteen
fathoms close in, with the yardarms almost touching
the cliffs on one hand and the lofty ice on the other —
and the pack drawing forty feet of water, rising in
rolling hills a hundred feet from base to summit. On
shore the hills were as remarkable. Many of them
were peaked and isolated by precipitous gorges, about
three hundred feet deep. And all the way up them
were numbers of fallen trees, in many places in layers,
some protruding twelve or fourteen feet, one of these
trunks measuring nineteen inches in diameter. Says
M'Clure : " I entered a ravine some miles inland, and
found the north side of it, for a depth of forty feet
from the surface, composed of one mass of wood
similar to what I had before seen. The whole depth
of the ravine was about two hundred feet. The
ground around the wood or trees was formed of sand
and shingle; some of the wood was petrified, the re-
mainder very rotten and worthless even for burning."
And this forest bed is on the shore of the Beaufort Sea
174 THE PARRY ISLANDS
in 74° north latitude, a similar one being in Prince
Patrick Island, on the other side of Banks Strait.
After one or two narrow escapes the Investigator
entered her last home at the Bay of Mercy, well
within the strait, near Cape Hamilton, the most
prominent of the three capes discovered from the
Dundas Peninsula by Parry's lieutenant, Beechey,
thirty-one years before. The winter passed, and on
the llth of April M'Clure left the ship on a sledge
journey across to Parry's old quarters at Winter
Harbour, which were reached on the 28th, to find
nothing but a notice of M'Clintock's having been there
in the previous June. Noticing Parry's inscription
rock, M'Clure judiciously left on it a statement that
the Investigator was in want of relief at Mercy Bay.
But all through that year no news from the outside
came to Banks Land, and matters became serious
owing to the appearance of scurvy, notwithstanding
the abundance of fresh meat, for even in January a
herd of reindeer trotted by.
Another winter went wearily, each month with a
gloomier outlook than the last, and on the 5th of April
the first of the scurvy patients died. Next morning
M'Clure and Haswell were walking near the ship dis-
cussing how they could dig a grave in the frozen
ground, when they noticed a man hurriedly approach-
ing from the entrance of the bay, throwing up his
arms and shouting at the top of his voice, his face as
black as ebony. When he came within talking range
the dark-faced stranger called out, " I am Lieutenant
Pirn, late of the Herald and now in the Resolute;
Captain Kellett is in her at Dealy Island." And soon
THE PARRY ISLANDS
100 0 100 200 300 4OO 500
To face page 174
COLLINSON'S VOYAGE 175
the dog-sledge with two men came into view. Pirn's
arrival was most fortunate for the sufferers, for the
captain, as a desperate resource, was — in spite of the
doctor's protests — just about to send off two sledge
parties of the invalids to take their chance of escaping
somehow, as there was no hope of their recovery in
the ship ; and on examination by the doctor of the
Resolute, it was found that every man of the crew was
more or less affected by the disease. So the ship was
abandoned in Mercy Bay, and the officers and crew,
crossing to the Resolute, reached England by way of
Hudson Strait.
Collinson's was the most remarkable voyage ever
accomplished by a sailing-ship in the Arctic regions.
It lasted from 1850 to 1855 — five years and a hundred
and sixteen days— all the way out across the Atlantic
and Pacific and home again in safety, traversing a
hundred and twenty-eight degrees of longitude in the
Arctic sea, coming nearest at the time to completing
the north-west passage by ship (up Prince of Wales
Strait), finding two north-west passages by sledge (one
joining with Parry's discoveries across Banks Strait,
the other with Franklin's up Victoria Strait), and
approaching nearer than any other naval expedition
to the great discovery by travelling up Franklin's
route for some distance, and passing within thirty miles
of the spot where the vessels he was in search of had
been abandoned, though unfortunately, like Rae, he
was on the west side of the waterway instead of the
east.
Passing Bering Strait in July, 1850, the Enterprise
went north from Wainwright Inlet into the Beaufort
176 THE PARRY ISLANDS
Sea, until she was stopped by the heavy pack. Trying
east, to join with Parry's farthest, and then west, she
arrived, on the 28th of August, at 73° 23' in 164°, and
here she turned south after having sailed over eleven
thousand miles without having to reef her topsails, an
unprecedented run of distance and fine weather com-
bined. Returning in 1851 from wintering at Hong
Kong, Collinson, with a southerly wind "too precious
to be wasted," made his way up Prince of Wales
Strait, knowing nothing of the visit of the Investigator,
to find ice blocking his way just at the northern outlet,
his furthest north, by ship, 73° 30', forty miles beyond
M'Clure's winter quarters, as given in the record he
found in one of the cairns.
Unable to round the corner into Banks Strait owing
to the ice block, Collinson returned down Prince of
Wales Strait and followed the track of the Investigator
half-way up the west coast of Banks Land, though he
had found nothing to indicate she had gone in that
direction. Finding the ice conditions dangerous, he
retraced his route along the coast and went into com-
fortable winter quarters in Walker Bay, at the entrance
of Prince of Wales Strait. By the end of November
the natives fishing for salmon-trout had cleared off, as
also had the reindeer, hares, and ptarmigan and other
birds, and on the 17th of March the ravens, which had
been the last to leave, were the first to return. In
April sledge parties went out, one of which under
Lieutenant Parkes crossed the route of the Hecla
along the strait and reached Melville Island at Cape
Providence on the way to Winter Harbour, short of
which, within sight of Point Hearne, Parkes began his
THROUGH CORONATION GULF 177
homeward journey, owing to his taking the tracks of
sledges and barking of dogs as indicating the presence,
not of M'Clure as it did, but of Eskimos, with whom,
being without weapons, he was unable to cope.
Released on the 5th of August, the Enterprise pro-
ceeded to sea, coasting along past Rae's farthest and
Cape Baring, and so, where no ship had been, through
Coronation Gulf to Cambridge Bay. Here the winter
of 1852-3 was spent, and hence the sledges went up
Victoria Strait. At Finlayson Islands, what seemed
to be a piece of a companion-door was found among
the driftwood, which might have been a relic of the
lost ships ; but that was all. During the return along
the northern coast the Enterprise was beset in Camden
Bay, and here the third winter was passed, release not
coming until the end of the following July, and Bering
Strait not being reached until the 21st of August after
a voyage, like that of the Vega, too well managed to
yield much adventure. Like all the other Arctic
voyages of this period, it failed in the one object it
was undertaken to achieve ; but in days to come the
first ship to sail the passage from the Atlantic to the
Pacific was to follow Collinson from Cambridge Bay
along the route laboriously completed by the surveyors
of the mainland from James Cook to Dease and
Simpson.
M'Clure claimed and — to have done with the matter
— obtained the reward of £10,000 for discovering the
North- West Passage through Prince of Wales Strait,
though he sailed only half-way up it and, in attempting
to get round to Parry's farthest, lost his ship and
started sledging on the west side of the pack ; while
N
178 THE PARRY ISLANDS
Collinson took his ship much nearer to Parry's course
on the east side ; and Franklin, by linking up with
Dease and Simpson over the ice by way of Victoria
Strait, had previously found another of the possible
passages, as shown by Collinson's voyage to Cambridge
Bay. But surely what was done by M'Clure, and by
Collinson in his northerly cruise, was to see where ships
could pass when there was no ice in the way, which
was no more than had been done by Parry, who had
taken his ship within sight of both their farthests, and
would have sailed into the Beaufort Sea had not the
pack forbidden it. It was Parry, in fact, who dis-
covered the main road, the route by Prince of Wales
Strait, like that by Peel Sound taken by Franklin and
successfully accomplished by Amundsen, being only
one of the many by-roads leading off along his course.
His famous voyage to Melville Island was due to the
influence of Sir John Barrow. Barrow, to whom more
than any other man this country owes its position in
Arctic story, was born in a small thatched cottage at
Dragley Beck, near Ulverston, in North Lancashire, in
1764, and, in a remarkable course of promotion by
merit, became second secretary of the Admiralty for
forty years under twelve or thirteen different naval
administrations, Whig and Tory; being so unmistakably
the right man in the right place that he was only dis-
pensed with once — on a change of First Lords — and
then was reinstated the next year. When he was
seventeen he was given the opportunity of a voyage
in a Greenland whaler, which he accepted, and that
was his only Arctic experience ; but even when with
Macartney in China and South Africa, he kept up
To face page 178
PARRY'S GREAT VOYAGE 179
his interest in the north, and in 1817, when at the
Admiralty, proposed to Lord Melville his plan for two
voyages of discovery, one to the north and the other
to the north-west, which opened the new era of Polar
exploration.
The voyage to the north was that of Buchan and
Franklin in the Dorothea and Trent; that to the north-
west was undertaken by John Ross in the Isabella and
William Edward Parry in the A lexander. Of this we
need only say here that on their return from the north
of Baffin Bay, Ross and Parry coasted down the west
side and sailed into Lancaster Sound for a considerable
distance until Ross — who seems to have had the
mountain-finding eye and an unenviable gift for miss-
ing straits — declared that it ended in a range of moun-
tains which he appropriately named Croker's ; and, that
there should be no mistake about them, he gave a very
pretty picture of them as a full-page plate in his book.
Parry, however, saw no mountains and took the liberty
of saying so to Barrow when he reported himself at the
Admiralty, the result being the despatch of Parry's
expedition in the Hecla and Griper which left Yar-
mouth on the 12th of May, 1819, and, for the first time
after leaving the coast of Norfolk, dropped anchor in
the bay named after them in Melville Island, on the 5th
of September.
Parry, before his voyage in the Alexander, had had
Arctic experience while lieutenant of the Alexan-
dria frigate engaged in protecting the Spitsbergen
whale fisheries, and knew thoroughly what he was
about. For instance, he worked his crews in three
watches, and had both his vessels rigged as barques
180 THE PARRY ISLANDS
as the most convenient rig among ice, though the
Griper, a strong, slow gunboat, was rather too small to
be so treated, being only about half the tonnage of the
Hecla, whose measurement was under four hundred.
Had she been a little speedier more work might have
been done ; but what was done was magnificent.
Entering Lancaster Sound, Parry found a strait not
blocked by mountains but thirty miles broad leading
into a region up to then unknown, except — so it is said
— to the Norsemen. On the 12th of August Prince
Regent Inlet was discovered and named, it being
George IVs birthday. Then North Somerset was
sighted and the course laid across Barrow Strait to
North Devon and its south-western peninsula known
as Beechey Island ; then Wellington Channel was des-
cried, and then Cornwallis Island. Griffith Island was
discovered on the 23rd of August, Bathurst Island on
the 25th, Byam Martin Island on the 27th, where
Sabine, the astronomer of the expedition, found they
had passed north of the magnetic north pole. Then
the south side of Melville Island was coasted along,
Dealy Island being found on the 4th of September at
noon, and, at a quarter past nine at night, just after
passing Bounty Cape (named in honour of the event),
the Hecla crossed the 110th meridian west, and
became entitled to the Government grant of £5000 for
doing so — which Parry shared between the ships.
Soon the ice became difficult and the ships had to
anchor, but, the conditions improving, the westerly
voyage was resumed. Cape Providence was passed and
Cape Hay sighted, but the ships could get no further
than about half-way between these capes, and they had
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PARRY IN WINTER QUARTERS 181
to return to Winter Harbour, where, on the 26th of
September, they were warped to their quarters through
a channel cut in the ice. The Hecla, sending down all
her upper masts except the main topmast, and the
Griper, housing her fore and main topmasts, used the
spars to support a roof which completely enclosed their
upper decks and made them both snug for the winter,
which did not seem so long owing to the efforts of the
officers to keep every one amused and on the move.
Parry, a host in himself, was well seconded by his
lieutenant, Beechey, late of the Trent., James Clark
Ross, one of his midshipmen, Captain Sabine, and
Lieutenant Liddon, the commander of the Griper, who
was almost disabled with rheumatism, and Lieutenant
Hoppner, also of the Griper. A couple of books of
plays on board proved a real treasure ; owing to them
the Royal Arctic Theatre was started, the pioneer of so
many amateur theatrical ventures in the Polar seas,
and the North Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle
came into existence, the first of ship newspapers. On
Christmas Day there was a dinner of roast beef which
had been on board since May, the condition of
which, as Parry said, was an excellent testimony to the
antiseptic properties of a cold atmosphere ; and the
food generally was good and abundant, and the manage-
ment and supplies far better than on many subsequent
expeditions. In the spring, game was found in fair
quantity, nearly four thousand pounds of musk ox,
deer, hares, geese, ducks, and ptarmigan being brought
on board.
In May the vessels were afloat again, though ice-
bound, and, in June, walking, not sledging, journeys
182 THE PARRY ISLANDS
were organised, the furthest points reached being Cape
Fisher to the north and Cape Hoppner to the west.
On the 1st of August the vessels moved out of the
bay to the westward, and six days afterwards Beechey
called attention to the land with the three capes already
mentioned. " The land," says Parry, " which extends
beyond the 117th degree of west longitude, and is the
most western yet discovered in the Polar Sea to the
north of the American continent, was honoured with
the name of Banks Land out of respect to the late
venerable and worthy President of the Royal Society."
On the 16th Cape Dundas was named, but progress
was impossible. For a week Parry made every en-
deavour to pass, but the floes, forty to fifty feet thick,
heaped up by the tides from the east and the west so
as to form a wide-stretching landscape of hill and dale,
barred the way right across Banks Strait ; and no
further west could be attained than 113° 46' 43 "5", in
latitude 74° 26' 25". Thence Parry returned, hoping
to get through on another voyage, and bidding farewell
to the North Georgian Islands, as he called them, or
the Parry Islands, as we now know them, he came
home by the way he went out, through Lancaster
Sound. Needless to say, the very next season the
whalers followed on Parry's track, and Lancaster
Sound became the highway to a very profitable fishing-
ground.
Among the Parry Islands in 1851 were several
vessels in search of Franklin. Sir John Ross, aged
seventy-four, was there in the schooner-yacht Felix on
a private expedition chiefly memorable for the story
of his having sent oft' a carrier pigeon from his winter
SEARCHING FOR FRANKLIN 183
quarters at Cornwallis Island, which reached his home
— North- West Castle, Stranraer, Wigtownshire — three
thousand miles away, in five days. Lady Franklin's
vessel, the Prince Albert, was there, with Captain
Forsyth and Parker Snow on board, an old fruit
schooner, and therefore the speediest sailing - craft
among the crowd. The Grinnell expedition of the
two American brigs, Advance and Racer, under De
Haven, was also there, to drift afterwards up Welling-
ton Channel and down again back into Baffin Bay ;
as was a British Government expedition of the two
whaling brigs, Lady Franklin and Sophia, under Captain
William Penny, who was to discover the sea open north
of Wellington Channel. In addition to these was the
British squadron under Captain Horatio Austin in
H.M.S. Resolute, with H.M.S. Assistance, Captain
Erasmus Ommanney, and the old Cattle Conveyance
Company's boats known as H.M.S. Intrepid, Lieutenant
Cator, and H.M.S. Pioneer, Lieutenant Sherard O shorn,
these two being screw steamers used as tenders, which
proved of great value as tugs and ice-breakers.
On the 23rd of August Captain Ommanney found
Franklin's winter quarters on Beechey Island, and four
days afterwards Captain Penny came upon the grave-
stones marking where the three men, two of the
Erebus and one of the Terror, had been buried in
1846, though nothing was discoverable of the route
intended to be taken by the ships. The news was
important, and the Prince Albert, acting as despatch
vessel, was immediately sent home with it, to return
next year with Kennedy and Bellot to make a dis-
covery of her own. Soon Captain Austin's four ships
THE PARRY ISLANDS
departed, also to return in the following year, Sir
Edward Belcher, in the Assistance, being then in com-
mand, Kellett being in the Resolute, M'Clintock in the
Intrepid, and Sherard Osborn again in the Pioneer.
Belcher's attempt ended in his abandoning his vessels
in the ice ; one of them, the Resolute, as though in
mute protest, drifting from 74° 41' for a thousand
miles, to be picked up by Buddington off Cape Dyer
in Baffin Bay, bought from him by the American
Government and presented to Great Britain, refitted
as she used to be, as a much-appreciated token of good-
will.
The great feature of these years was the wonderful
sledge work ; by it mainly the northern coasts of the
islands discovered by Parry were surveyed and other
islands added to the archipelago, including the western-
most, Prince Patrick, named after the Duke of Con-
naught, who was at first known as Prince Patrick instead
of Prince Arthur. The sledges fitted out by Austin
traversed 1500 miles of coast-line, 850 of which were new,
the routes radiating between Osborn's 72° 18' and Brad-
ford's 76° 25', M'Clintock going farthest, 760 miles, to
114° 20' in 74° 38'. Those next year from Kellett at
Dealy Island covered 8558 miles, radiating from Pirn's
74° 6' (to rescue M'Clure) to M'Clintock's 77° 23', a
run to 118° 20' and back of 1401 miles, while Mecham
reached 120° 30' on a trip of 1163 miles ; and Belcher
from his winter quarters in Northumberland Sound, in
76° 52', aided by Richards and Osborn, was almost as
busy further north.
Thus practically the whole belt of land and sea
westward between and including Lancaster Sound and
SVERDRUFS DISCOVERIES 185
Jones Sound as far as 120° was searched and mapped,
the most northerly of the Parry Islands known up to
then being Finlay Island, North Cornwall, and Graham
Island. But in 1898 Captain Otto Sverdrup went up
Smith Sound in his old ship the Fram on an endeavour
to sail round the north coast of Greenland from west
to east. He had to winter in Rice Strait, near Pirn
Island, and finding, to put it sportingly, that he was
to a certain extent trespassing on Peary's preserves,
decided to devote his attention to the unknown region
approachable through Jones Sound. In 1899, there-
fore, he took the Fram up the sound, and, failing
to pass through Cardigan Strait, spent the three
following years among the fiords at the north-western
end.
From here he sent his sledge and ski parties far and
wide, west and south and north over an approximate
area of a hundred thousand square miles. Long
stretches of coast-line were explored and named, in a
few cases unnecessarily, though, strange to say, the
unnecessary names were all royal ones, King Oscar
Land being the west of Ellesmere Land, Crown Prince
Gustav Sea and Prince Gustav Adolf Sea being the
Polar Ocean, and King Christian Land being simply
Finlay Island. Separated from Finlay Island by
Danish Sound and from North Cornwall by Hendrik-
sen Sound, he found two large islands, which — just as
John Ross named Boothia after his principal patron,
the distiller — Sverdrup named Ellef Ringnes and
Amund Ringnes after two of his supporters, the
brewers ; his other discovery, Axel Heiberg Land —
which seems to be Peary's Jesup Land sighted in 1898
186 THE PARRY ISLANDS
-to the west and north-west of these, being so called
after his other munificent patron.
His farthest south was Beechey Island, his farthest
west Cape Isachsen in Ellef Ringnes Land, his farthest
north Lands Lokk in Grant Land, in latitude 81° 40'
and longitude about 92°, within sixty miles of Aldrich's
farthest along the north-eastern coast, the gap after-
wards traversed by Peary. Within these limits the
amount of coast detail filled in was remarkable.
Owing to the favourable condition of the ice and the
excellent management in all ways, the sledges fre-
quently did their fifteen miles and more a day. Though
the expedition lost its doctor during the first winter,
there was little trouble as regards health ; and game
was in plenty right up to the far north where Hare
Fiord tells of hares in hundreds.
With hunting episodes the story is pleasantly varied,
one in particular being so graphically described by
Sverdrup that as a sample we may be forgiven a rather
long quotation. " The bear," says Sverdrup, " was
determined to go up a difficult stony valley a little
north of our tent, and, try as the dogs would to
prevent it, up the valley it went. Schei and I ran full
speed northward along the ice-foot, and soon heard
that the dogs had brought it to bay. We made a short
cut across some hills of grit, and, when we reached
the top of one of them, saw the bear on the other side
of the valley, sitting on a hill-top, which fell almost
sheer away. But on the north side it was accessible,
and here it was probably that the bear had climbed it.
There sat the king of the icefields enthroned on a kind
of pedestal, and the whole staff of yelping dogs stand-
A BEAR STORY 187
ing at a respectful distance. 1 tried a couple of shots,
but overrated the distance, and the bullets went over
the bear's head. I then told Schei to go and shoot it
whilst I looked on at the further development of the
drama. The bear's position was a first-rate one. It
had taken its stand on a little plateau high up on a
mountain crag ; this little ledge was reached by a
bridge not more than a good yard in width, and there
stood the bear, like Sven Dufva, ready with his sledge-
hammer to fell the first being that should venture
across. His majesty was not visible to Schei until he
came within a few feet of him, but then it was not
long before a shot was heard. The bear sank to-
gether, and a few seconds afterwards all the dogs had
thrown themselves on to it. They tugged and pulled
at the bear's coat, tearing tufts of hair out of it, and
before we knew what they were doing, had dragged
the body to the edge of the plateau, where it shot out
over the precipice. The dogs stood amazed, gazing
down into the depths where the bear was falling swiftly
through the air — but not alone, for on it as large as
life were two dogs which had clung so fast to its hair,
that they now stood planted head to head, and bit
themselves still faster to it in order to keep their
balance. I was breathless as I watched this unexpected
journey through the air. The next moment the bear
in its perpendicular fall would reach the projecting
point of rock, arid my poor dogs ! — it was a cruel
revenge the bear was taking on them. I should now
have only three dogs left in my team. The bear's
body dashed violently against the rock, turned a
somersault out from the mountain wall and fell still
188 THE PARRY ISLANDS
further, until, after falling a height of altogether at
least a hundred feet, it reached the slopes by the river,
and was shot by the impetus right across the river-ice
and a good way up the other side. And the dogs ?
When the bear dashed against the mountain they
sprang up like rubber balls, described a large curve,
and with stiffened legs continued the journey on their
own account, falling with a loud thud on to the hardly
packed snow at the bottom of the valley. But they
were on their legs again in a moment, and set off as
fast as they could go across the river after the bear.
Not many minutes afterwards the whole pack came
running up, but when they were driven away from the
carcase, they lay down again to await their turn. I
hurried back to camp to fetch the dog harness ; we
put a lanyard through the nose of the mighty fallen,
and set off. The dogs knew well enough that this
meant food for them, and the nearer we came to camp
the harder they pulled. In fact, I had to sit on the
carcase to keep them back, and, jolting backwards and
forwards, on this new kind of conveyance I made my
entrance into camp, in the light spring night." But
bears were few, compared with the musk oxen, which,
with the reindeer and hares, and with the wolves and
foxes, and stoats and lemmings, seals and walruses,
narwhals and white whales, represented the Arctic
mammalia.
The most singular experience met with was perhaps
the sledge journey through the ice tunnel on the return
across the Simmons Peninsula in 1900. Descending a
valley which became narrower and narrower Sverdrup
and Fosheim began to think it was going to end in a
THROUGH THE ICE TUNNEL 189
canyon, but without any warning they were stopped by
a high wall of ice, perpendicular and inaccessible to any
one without wings. Looking about, Sverdrup found a
large hole which proved to be the beginning of a tunnel
through the glacier. Through this lofty vault they
sped. From the roof hung threateningly above their
heads gigantic blocks of ice, seamed and cleft and
glittering sinisterly ; and all around were icicles like
steel-bright spears and lances piercing downwards on
them. Along the walls were caves after caves, with
pillars in rows like giants in rank ; and over all shone a
ghostly whitish light which became bluish as they went.
" 1 dared not speak," says Sverdrup. " It seemed to me
that in doing so I should be committing a deed of dese-
cration ; I felt like one who has impiously broken into
something sacred which Nature had wished to keep
closed to every mortal eye. I felt mean and con-
temptible as I drove through all this purity. The
sledges jolted from block to block, awakening thunder-
ous echoes in their passage : and it seemed as if all the
spirits of the ice had been aroused and called to arms
against the intruders on their church-like peace."
CHAPTER X
BOOTHIA
Christopher Middleton— Wager River— Repulse Bay— Parry's second north-
west voyage — Melville Peninsula — Fury and Hecla Strait — John Ross's
second Arctic voyage — Introduces steam navigation into the Arctic regions
— The whaler John— Ross misses the North- West Passage — Snow houses-
Eskimo geographers— James Clark Ross finds the Magnetic North Pole—
Lyon in the Griper— Back in the Terror— Rae's journey round Committee
Bay — Sir John Franklin's last voyage — Kennedy and Bellot — Discovery
of Bellot Strait— Rae's journey in 1854— His Franklin discoveries —
M'Clintock's voyage in the Fox— Lady Franklin's instructions— Captain
Charles Hall — Frederick Schwatka — Amundsen accomplishes the North-
West Passage.
IN July, 1742, Christopher Middleton, working
northwards in Hudson Bay from Fort Churchill,
made his way up Rowe's Welcome and entered a deep
inlet apparently leading to the South Sea. Middleton
— who gained his Fellowship of the Royal Society for
his variation observations at Fort Churchill, and was
the first to practise the modern method of finding
longitude by eight or ten different altitudes of the sun
or stars when near the prime vertical — spent eighteen
days in the inlet observing the tides, and then, came to
the conclusion that it was an estuary ; and he named
it Wager River after Sir Charles Wager, who was First
Lord of the Admiralty when he began his voyage.
Proceeding north, he reached his Repulse Bay, and at
the north-east end of it saw Frozen Strait, as he called
it, stretching away along the north of Southampton
190
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PARRY'S SECOND NORTH-WEST VOYAGE 191
Island towards Cape Comfort. Here, also from tidal
observations, he satisfied himself that Repulse Bay
afforded no passage to the westward and that Frozen
Strait led into Fox Channel.
His opinions were disputed by those who only knew
the coast from his chart, and two vessels were sent out
to prove he was wrong. The reports of the captains
of these — there is no need to mention their names-
were embarrassing. Neither had been to Repulse Bay,
but both had been to Wager River, and they agreed
that it was unmistakably a river and not a strait ; but
in every other respect, even in naming the places they
had seen, they were at variance. Thus the matter was
left in sufficient doubt to encourage some people in
believing in a north-west passage through Repulse Bay,
just at the Arctic Circle, and to seek this, Parry, on
his return from Melville Island, was despatched on his
second voyage.
This time the Hecla was commanded by George
Francis Lyon — the North African traveller — Parry
being in the Fury, a sister ship ; both vessels, at Parry's
suggestion, being exactly alike so that their gear and
fittings were interchangeable. They sailed from the
Little Nore on the 8th of May, 1821, and going direct
up Frozen Strait, with much trouble from the ice, ran
into Repulse Bay on the 22nd of August. Here after
a careful examination it was ascertained beyond a doubt
that no passage existed through to the westward.
" Thus," says Lyon, " the veracity of poor Middleton,
as far as regards this bay at least, was now at length
established ; and in looking down the strait we had
passed, he was fully justified in calling it a frozen strait.
192 BOOTHIA
We were now indisputably on our scene of future
action, the coast of America ; and it only remained for
us to follow minutely the line of shore in continuation
from Repulse Bay."
During a stay at Gore Bay red snow was brought off
to the Fury, its colour being much fainter than that
found in the Isabella voyage at Crimson Cliffs in
Greenland ; " the appearance of the mass was not un-
like what is called raspberry ice, in a far better climate,
where cold is made subservient to luxury." The colour-
ing of this is due to one of the Algae, Protococcus
nivalis, and not as Peter Paterson said in 1671 — ninety
years before De Saussure — to the rocks being " full of
white, red, and yellow veins, like marble ; upon any
alteration of the weather, these stones sweat, which,
together with the rains, tinges the snow red." The
day on which this snow was found, the 30th of August,
was so warm that the party were glad to pull off their
coats and waistcoats. " The valleys were fertile in
grasses and moss ; and the fineness of the weather had
drawn forth a number of butterflies, spiders, and other
insects, which would, by their gay colours and active
motions, have almost deceived us into an idea that we
were not in the Arctic regions, had not the Frozen
Strait, filled with huge masses of moving ice, reminded
us but too forcibly, that we were in the most dangerous
of them."
Early in October the ships took up their quarters at
Winter Island on the coast of Melville Peninsula in
66° 32', and there, during the cordial intercourse with
the Eskimos, Parry heard of the way through further
north which led him on his release in the following
Fury firjt drh 'en on sJiorc
Snuthcriv termination, 0f*\
precipitous land, >
PARRY'S FARTHEST ON HIS THIRD VOYAGE
To face page 192
PARRY'S THIRD NORTH-WEST VOYAGE 193
July to discover Fury and Heda Strait, along which
the ships passed to find their progress blocked by the
ice just beyond its entrance into Regent Inlet. Return-
ing through the strait, they reached the island of Igloolik
at the eastern entrance, and there they passed the
winter, Igloolik being an important Eskimo settlement,
with four fixed places of residence on it, to which as the
season changes the natives move in rotation. From
this island, as the health of the men did not permit of
his venturing to spend another winter in the ice, Parry
retraced his route and returned to England.
The ships dropped anchor in the Thames on Trafalgar
Day, 1823. Next year, on the 19th of May, they were
off again to the north to seek a passage to the west
down Prince Regent Inlet, Parry in the Hecla, Hoppner
in the Fury. It was a bad season. The ships were
late in leaving Baffin Bay and were hindered by new
ice in Lancaster Sound. So far from reaching the
strait discovered two years before, they could get no
further south than Port Bowen, in 73° 12', where they
spent the winter in a singularly barren part of Cockburn
Land. Starting in July they went down to Cresswell
Bay, the ships being forced by the weather and the ice
to work — as is not unusual under such circumstances —
in almost every possible direction within every mile,
their track — as shown in the illustration — being most
complicated. The end of it all was that the Fury was
wrecked and her stores carefully taken out and left, on
what was named Fury Beach, for the use of future
callers in want of them. And the Hec/a came home
alone.
Four years afterwards Captain John Ross, anxious
o
194 BOOTHIA
for further work in the north, started in search of the
passage by the same route. After some years of effort
he had succeeded in organising an expedition, the ex-
penses of which to the amount of over £17,000 were
borne by Felix Booth, with the exception of over £2000
added by Ross himself. It was a memorable voyage
in many respects, and for one thing in particular that
is frequently passed unnoticed. This was the intro-
duction of steam into Arctic navigation. The Victory
was an old Isle of Man packet-boat of eighty-five tons,
which, by raising her sides five feet, Ross increased
to one hundred and fifty tons. Taking out her old
paddles, he replaced them with a pair of Robertson's
patents, hoistable out of water in a minute, so as to
clear the ice. The engine was also a patent, by Braith-
waite and Ericsson, who built the Novelty that appeared
at Rainhill. But neither Braithwaite nor Ericsson was
any happier in this production. Its great feature was
the doing away with the funnel, no flue being required
owing to the fires being kept going by artificial draught
derived from two bellows of unequal sizes — "the bellows
draught," in fact, like that of the Novelty which broke
down in the great locomotive contest won by the
Rocket. Had not Ross been a man of enterprise he
would never have ventured to sea with such an ex-
perimental arrangement ; but he did, and he suffered
for it.
The " execrable machinery," as he inadequately
called it, went wrong from the first. On the way from
Galleons Reach to Woolwich, part of it became dis-
placed, causing a delay for repairs. At Woolwich, Sir
Byam Martin, the Comptroller of the Navy, and
THE "VICTORY1
To face page 194
THE FIRST ARCTIC STEAMSHIP 195
Sir John Franklin went on board and said uncompli-
mentary things about it, as also did the Duke of
Orleans (afterwards King Louis Philippe) and the
Duke of Chartres, though the Frenchmen were more
gentle in their phrases. From Woolwich to Margate
this remarkable engine, aided by the sails, took the
Victory in just over twelve hours, the boiler leaking so
much that the additional forcing pump had to be kept
working by hand all the time. Passing the Lizard, the
piston-rod was found to be so much worn on one side
by friction against the guide-wheels that a piece of iron
had to be brazed on to it. Then the keys of the main
shaft broke and the substitutes made on board broke
one after the other. " The boilers also continued to
leak, though we had put dung and potatoes in them by
Mr. Ericsson's directions." The air-pump drew quan-
tities of water ; the feeding pump was insufficient to
supply the boiler. The big bellows nearly wore out ;
so did the small one. Off the Mull of Galloway the
stoker fell into the machinery and had his arm crushed
and nearly severed above the elbow. Then the teeth
of the fly-wheel of the small bellows were shorn off,
and the boiler joints gave way, and the water, or
rather the potato soup, flowed out of the furnace
doors and put out the fire.
Enough has been said to show the difficulties under
which Ross first used steam on a voyage to the
northern seas. The list of damages need not be con-
tinued. Every constituent part of the apparatus gave
way in turn ; and when the Victory became imprisoned
for the winter, and the engineering staff had some time
on their hands, they employed it in taking what was
196 BOOTHIA
left of the installation, piece by piece, out of the ship,
laying it on the ice, and leaving it there.
Iloss was to be accompanied by the whaler John, but
the men mutinied and refused to start, so that he went
on from Loch Ryan alone. The following year the
crew of the John, then on a whaling voyage in Baffin
Bay, again mutinied, killed the master, put the mate
adrift in a boat in the manner of Henry Hudson, and
lost the ship on the western coast, where most of them
were drowned.
With the Krusenstcrn, a boat of eighteen tons, in
tow, Ross crossed the Atlantic, sighting Sanderson's
Hope on the 29th of July, having left Scotland six
weeks before. Early in August he sailed through
Lancaster Sound, and, taking the opportunity of
removing his Croker's Mountains to the north-east
corner of North Somerset, went down Prince Regent
Inlet to Fury Beach. After completing his provisions
for twenty-seven months from the stores left behind by
Parry, he crossed Cresswell Bay, passed Cape Garry,
Parry's farthest south, on the 15th of August, and
next day, Sunday, " I went on shore," he says, " with
all the officers, to take formal possession of the new-
discovered land ; and at one o'clock, being a few minutes
after seven in London, the colours were displayed with
the usual ceremony, and the health of the King drunk,
together with that of the founder of our expedition,
after whom the land was named."
" From the highest part of this land, which was
upwards of a hundred feet above the level of the sea,"
he continues, " we had a good view of the bay and the
adjoining shores, and had the satisfaction to find that
O
Q
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«
O
o
H
JOHN ROSS MISSES BELLOT STRAIT 197
the ice was in motion and fast clearing away. We
therefore resolved to wait patiently till we could see
an opening ; and proceeded to the northern quarter of
this spot to make some observations on the dip of the
magnetic needle. . . . To this place I gave the name
Brown Island, after the amiable sister of Mr. Booth ;
the inlet was named Brentford Bay, and the islands
Grimble Islands." And in his book is a beautiful steel
engraving by W. Chevalier, " Taking Possession.
Cape Hussard, Grimble Isle, Brentford Bay, Brown's
Island." In short, Ross found the place, landed
on it, took possession of it, named it and sketched
it. " The sketches from which the drawings were
made were taken by Mr. Ronald's invaluable per-
spective instrument, and therefore must be true de-
lineations."
And Ross passed on, apparently quite pleased with
himself. But the Fates had again been against him, for
this was the very North-West Passage he had come
specially to find ; the bay, as Kennedy was to show,
being the entrance to Bellot Strait in which the Fox
was to winter when on the Franklin search. He had
blundered along from the island of North Somerset to
the mainland of America, and passed unheeded its
northernmost point, which M'Clintock was to name
Cape Murchison.
Working down the coast of the newly-named
Boothia, the Victory reached Felix Harbour, and there
she wintered. No Eskimos were seen until the 9th of
January, when thirty-one came to the ship and were
invited on board, a return visit being paid next day to
their village, which Ross named North Hendon. As
198 BOOTHIA
this was a typical Eskimo snow camp we may as well
copy his picture and quote his description.
" The village soon appeared, consisting of twelve
snow huts, erected at the bottom of a little bight on
the shore, about two miles and a half from the ship.
They had the appearance of inverted basins, and were
placed without any order ; each of them having a long
crooked appendage, in which was the passage, at the
entrance of which were the women, with the female
children and the infants. We were soon invited to
visit these, for whom we had prepared presents of glass
beads and needles ; a distribution of which soon drove
away the timidity which they had displayed at our first
appearance. The passage, always long, and generally
crooked, led to the principal apartment, which was a
circular dome, being ten feet in diameter when intended
for one family, and an oval of fifteen by ten where it
lodged two. Opposite the doorway there was a bank
of snow, occupying nearly a third of the breadth of the
area, about two feet and a half high, level at the top,
and covered by various skins, forming the general bed
or sleeping place for the whole. At the end of this sat
the mistress of the house, opposite to the lamp, which,
being of moss and oil, as is the universal custom in
these regions, gave a sufficient flame to supply both
light and heat ; so that the apartment was perfectly
comfortable. Over the lamp was the cooking dish of
stone, containing the flesh of deer and of seals, with
oil ; and of such provision there seemed no want.
Everything else, dresses, implements, as well as pro-
visions, lay about in unspeakable confusion, showing
that order, at least, was not in the class of their virtues.
..„••- j,r ~fl.fi. -isMiiWlin'lp-' Will;.---
ESKIMO LISTENING AT A SEAL-HOLE
To face page 198
HOW A SNOW HOUSE IS BUILT 199
It was much more interesting to us to find, that among
this disorder there were some fresh salmon ; since, when
they could find this fish, we were sure that it would also
furnish us with supplies which we could not too much
multiply. On inquiry, we were informed that they
were abundant ; and we had, therefore, the prospect of
a new amusement, as well as of a valuable market at
the mere price of our labour."
A few weeks later Ross was to see how these houses
were built. " Four families," he says, " comprising
fifteen persons, passed the ship to erect new huts about
half a mile to the southward. They had four heavy-
laden sledges, drawn each by two or three dogs, but
proceeded very slowly. We went after them to see
the process of building the snow house, and were sur-
prised at their dexterity ; one man having closed in his
roof within forty-five minutes. A tent is scarcely
pitched sooner than a house is here built. The whole
process is worth describing. Having ascertained, by
the rod used in examining seal holes, whether the snow
is sufficiently deep and solid, they level the intended
spot by a wooden shovel, leaving beneath a solid mass
of snow not less than three feet thick. Commencing
then in the centre of the intended circle, which is ten
feet or more in diameter, different wedge-shaped blocks
are cut out, about two feet long, and a foot thick at the
outer part ; then trimming them accurately by the
knife, they proceed upwards until the courses, gradually
inclining inwards, terminate in a perfect dome. The
door being cut out from the inside before it is quite
closed serves to supply the upper materials. In the
meantime the women are employed in stuffing the joints
200 BOOTHIA
with snow, and the boys in constructing kennels for the
dogs. The laying the snow sofa with skins and the in-
sertion of the ice window complete the work ; the
passage only remaining to be added, as it is after the
house is finished, together with some smaller huts for
stores " -the design being similar to that of the yourts
of the Eskimos of the north, with a change of material,
snow for stone, and ice instead of seal-gut for the window
over the entrance.
Making friends with the Eskimos, and gaining a
great reputation by the carpenter fitting one of them
with a wooden leg, Ross obtained much valuable in-
formation from them, particularly as to the geography
of the district. Like all Arctic men, he was impressed
by their quickness in understanding maps and their
skill in drawing them upon anything, snow, paper, or
otherwise, that lay handy. One of them, Ikmallik,
drew in the ship's cabin a map, which he reprints in his
book, showing the coast-line of the country south of
the Victory s quarters, with the capes, inlets, and islands,
giving the isthmus of Boothia and Committee Bay, and
Repulse Bay on the other side of the Melville Peninsula,
which is really wonderful, for neither the Eskimo, nor
Ross, had anything to copy from, it being nearly twenty
years before Rae's exploration ; and the one thing it
clearly demonstrated was that there was no waterway
to the westward, south of Felix Harbour.
Ross owed much to Ikmallik, and really a good deal
of the time of the expedition was spent in confirming
the statements of that well-informed man. The west
coast of Boothia was surveyed down to Bulow Bay ;
the east side from Cape Nicholas down to Cape Porter,
THE MAGNETIC NORTH POLE 201
including the crossing of the upper part of James Ross
Strait, the discovery of Matty Island and the north-
east coast of King William Land from Cape Landon,
opposite Cape Porter — where Ross, as usual, missed a
strait — westward to capes Franklin and Jane Franklin,
within sight of which in the days that were coming,
by one of those remarkable coincidences so frequent in
the north, the Erebus and Terror were to meet their
fate.
The one conspicuous triumph of the expedition was
the journey of James Ross to the site of the Magnetic
North Pole, which he found on the western coast of
Boothia on the 1st of June, 1831. In the younger
Ross's own words, " the land at this place is very low
near the coast, but it rises into ridges of fifty or sixty
feet high about a mile inland. We could have wished
that a place so important had possessed more of mark
or note. It was scarcely censurable to regret that there
was not a mountain to indicate a spot to which so
much of interest must ever be attached ; and I could
even have pardoned any one among us who had been
so romantic or absurd as to expect that the magnetic
pole was an object as conspicuous and mysterious as
the fabled mountain of Sinbad, that it even was a
mountain of iron, or a magnet as large as Mont Blanc.
But Nature had here erected no monument to denote
the spot which she had chosen as the centre of one of
her great and dark powers ; and where we could do
little ourselves towards this end, it was our business to
submit, and to be content in noting by mathematical
numbers and signs, as with things of far more import-
ance in the terrestrial system, what we could but ill
202 BOOTHIA
distinguish in any other manner. . . . We fixed the
British flag on the spot and took possession of the
North Magnetic Pole and its adjoining territory in
the name of Great Britain and King William the
Fourth. We had abundance of materials for building,
in the fragments of limestone that covered the beach ;
and we therefore erected a cairn of some magnitude,
under which we buried a canister containing a record
of the interesting fact ; only regretting that we had not
the means of constructing a pyramid of more import-
ance and of strength sufficient to withstand the assaults
of time and of the Eskimos. Had it been a pyramid
as large as that of Cheops, I am not quite sure that it
would have done more than satisfy our ambition, under
the feelings of that exciting day. The latitude of this
spot is 70° 5' 17", and its longitude 96° 46' 45" west."
The Victory in the short summer of 1 830 sailed a few
miles further south and spent the winter in Victoria
Harbour, to be there abandoned in May, 1832. Ross
in his boats made for Fury Beach, where, at Somerset
House, as he called it, he passed the following winter.
On the 26th of August, 1833, when in his boats off the
eastern mouth of Lancaster Sound, he was picked up
by the Isabella, his old ship, and in her he reached the
Humber in October of that year after four successive
winters in the ice, having been enabled to make so long
a stay by his fortunate find of the stores left by Parry.
In 1824 Captain Lyon was sent out in the Griper to
winter at Repulse Bay, and thence crossing the isthmus
described by the Eskimos continue along to Franklin's
Point Turnagain ; but the Griper was nearly wrecked
in Rowe's Welcome and did not reach Wager River.
/ 4/r- "-^MW
l<^&
H.M.S. "TERROR" LIFTED BY ICE
To face page 202
VOYAGE OF THE "TERROR" 203
The discoveries of Ross led to the renewal of this
attempt by Captain Back in the Terror in 18,'3G. He
was to go to Wager River or Repulse Bay, and then
make his way into Prince Regent Inlet, and so west ;
but he became imprisoned in the ice off Cape Comfort
during one of the severest winters known. Drifting up
Frozen Strait amid most perilous experiences, the ship,
lifted high above sea-level by pressure, lay at times
almost horizontal. Once " they beheld," he says, " the
strange and appalling spectacle of what may be fitly
termed a submerged berg, fixed low down, with one
end to the ship's side, while the other, with the purchase
of a long lever advantageously placed at a right angle
with the keel, was slowly rising towards the surface.
Meanwhile, those who happened to be below, finding
everything falling, rushed or clambered on deck, where
they saw the ship on her beam-ends, with the lee boats
touching the water, and felt that a few moments only
trembled between them and eternity."
Day after day the Terror defied the persistent effort
of the ice to smash her, but suffering much in almost
every timber she withstood it sufficiently to keep
together. For four months she was entirely out of
water, and when at last she was free, Back wrapped
her up as best he could, and brought her home with
the water pouring into her so that the men were so
wearied out that they could hardly have continued at
the pumps another day ; and he ran her ashore in
Lough S willy only just in time. Upwards of twenty
feet of her keel, together with ten feet of the sternpost,
were driven over more than three and a half feet on
one side, leaving a frightful opening astern for the free
204 BOOTHIA
ingress of water. The forefoot was entirely gone ;
numbers of bolts were either loosened or broken ; and
when, besides this, the strained and twisted state of the
ship's frame was considered, there was not one on board
who did not express astonishment that they had ever
floated across the Atlantic.
The next attempt to complete the coast of the
American mainland was made from the land, and at
the cost of the Hudson's Bay Company. Really it was
the expedition proposed by Simpson some five years
before, of which he would have been the leader had he
not been shot ; and it was entrusted to the capable
hands of Dr. John Rae.
After wintering at York Factory, Rae reached
Repulse Bay with two boats, the Magnet and North
Pole, on the 25th of July, 1846, and in his usual style
started immediately across the chain of lakes and
portages which make up the isthmus that now bears
his name, launching his boats in the tidal water of
Committee Bay on the 1st of August. Stopped by
ice on the west side and then on the east he returned
to Repulse Bay, where he built Fort Hope of stones
and roofed it with sails, and lived in it through the
winter on what he could shoot and catch, for many
weeks venturing on only one meal a day. Outside the
men kept themselves warm chiefly by building snow
houses and playing football ; inside, as the only fuel
used was for cooking, the only thing they could do was
to wrap themselves in furs, and trust to their natural
heat in a temperature that ranged about zero.
In April, with a couple of sledges, eight dogs, and
five men, he crossed the isthmus again and went straight-
FRACTURED STERN-POST OF H.M.S. "TERROR
To face page 204
FRANKLIN'S LAST VOYAGE 205
away up the east side of Boothia to Ross's farthest
south, thus completing that coast-line. Back he went
to Fort Hope after a trip of nearly six hundred miles,
to start again on the 12th of May up the west coast of
the Melville Peninsula to Cape Ellice, which Parry had
sighted from the strait on that side. And he was back
once more at Fort Hope on the 9th of June. Thus
the survey of the northern coast was complete with
the exception of the gap between the Boothia isthmus,
on the west side, and Castor and Pollux River of Dease
and Simpson, which Rae in another famous effort from
Repulse Bay was to link up later on.
When Rae reached Lord Mayor's Bay on the east
coast of Boothia, Franklin, with the Erebus and
Terror, was off its west coast in the same latitude.
This was the reappearance of the Terror in the north.
After Back's voyage she had been repaired to sail with
the Erebus., under Sir James Clark Ross, when he dis-
covered the South Magnetic Pole ; and on their return
the barques had been thoroughly overhauled and fitted
with auxiliary screws, the first time that the screw
propeller was used in Arctic work. Franklin was in the
Erebus, the Terror being commanded by Francis R. M.
Crozier as she had been in the Antarctic voyage.
Crozier was one of Parry's men, he having been in the
Fury in 1821 and in the Hecla on her two subsequent
expeditions.
The ships left England on the 19th of May, 1845,
and were last seen and spoken with on the 26th of
July in Melville Bay on their way to Lancaster Sound.
According to information gained during the long series
of searches, they passed through the sound and went
206 BOOTHIA
north for about a hundred and fifty miles, to 77°, up
Wellington Channel into Penny Strait — the first time
the passage had been made. Returning down the west
side of Cornwallis Island, discovering the strait between
it and Bathurst Island, they wintered at Beechey Island,
where three of the men died and were buried ; and where
the most significant relic was about seven hundred tins
of preserved meat that seemed to have been condemned
as bad, just as the stock of similar stuff had in the
same year been condemned and thrown overboard at
Portsmouth.
Leaving Beechey Island in 1846, they went south
down Peel Sound, being the first to pass through it,
and Franklin Strait — another new discovery— to within
twelve miles of Cape Felix in King William Land,
where, on the 12th of September, they were beset
about half-way between Cape Adelaide in Boothia and
Pelly Point in Victoria Land. Hereabouts the second
winter was passed, and on the 24th of May a party
under Lieutenant Gore crossed the ice to Point Victory,
probably on a journey to examine the unknown coast
between there and Cape Herschel. On the llth of June,
1847, Sir John Franklin died. The ships drifted a short
distance during their imprisonment in the ice, and the
third winter was passed some twenty miles further south
down Victoria Strait, where, on the 22nd of April, 1848,
when fifteen miles north-north-west of Point Victory,
they were abandoned, and the officers and crews, a
hundred and five in all, under Crozier's command, started
for Back's Great Fish River, some of them completing
the first North- West Passage in crossing Simpson Strait
and reaching Montreal Island.
KENNEDY AND BELLOT 207
The first undoubted traces of the lost expedition were
those discovered at Beechey Island, the news reaching
England in the Prince Albert in the autumn of 1850.
As soon as the winter was over this excellent little
schooner was again sent out by Lady Franklin under
the command of Captain William Kennedy, who took
with him as a volunteer Lieutenant Joseph Rene Bellot
of the French navy, and also John Hepburn, who had
been with Franklin on the land journey in 1819.
Kennedy wintered at Batty Bay in North Somerset,
and during a remarkable sledge journey, in which he
made the circuit of the island, he and Bellot reached
Brentford Bay, and, on the 21st of April, 1852, dis-
covered the strait named after the gallant Frenchman.
But he found no traces of the expedition through turn-
ing to the north and crossing to Prince of Wales Island,
instead of going to the south at the western mouth of
the strait. He had, however, discovered the termina-
tion of Boothia, the north point of the American conti-
nent which men had been seeking for three centuries.
To the southern end of Boothia came the inde-
fatigable Rae. That cheery hero of the north left
Repulse Bay on the 31st of March, 1854, to complete
the Hudson's Bay Company's survey. On the 20th of
April he met a young Eskimo in Pelly Bay, who told
him the fate of the Erebus and Terror, and from him
and his people Rae obtained a number of small articles,
forks and spoons and so forth, which had undoubtedly
come from the ships, one of which had been crushed in
the ice, the other sinking after drifting further south.
Rae was not the man to return until he had attacked
the work he had set out to do, and he continued his
208 BOOTHIA
surveying with his customary accuracy, despatch, and
general alertness, striking across the peninsula, dis-
covering the Murchison River, reaching Simpson's
farthest at Castor and Pollux River, and thence proving
the insularity of King William Land by travelling up
the east coast of the strait now named after him— and
he was back again in August. He had almost finished
the survey of the northern coast-line ; and he had
ascertained how and where Franklin's voyage had
ended, for which discovery the British Government gave
him the reward of £10,000, letting it be understood
that so far as they were concerned the Franklin searches
were at an end.
But Lady Franklin thought one more effort should
be made to unravel the mystery of her husband's fate,
and there were many who thought the same. Helped
to a certain extent by a public subscription, she organ-
ised another expedition. The steam-yacht Fox was
bought from the executors of Sir Richard Sutton and
altered for Arctic work by her builders, the Halls of
Aberdeen clipper fame. As leader went Captain, after-
wards Sir, Frederick Leopold M'Clintock, who had
done such brilliant sledge-work in the north ; like his
second in command, Lieutenant W. R. Hobson, he
gave his services gratuitously, as also did Dr. David
Walker and Captain, afterwards Sir, Allen Young,
then of the Mercantile Marine, who also subscribed
£500 towards the fund. Carl Petersen, the Eskimo
interpreter on the voyages of Penny and Kane, came
to join from Copenhagen, having landed there from
Greenland only six days previously. The British
Government, although declining to send out an expedi-
o
H
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PH
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fa
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H
LADY FRANKLIN'S INSTRUCTIONS 209
tion, contributed liberally to the supplies, and sent on
board all the arms and ammunition and ice-gear and
every instrument that was asked for.
Lady Franklin's instructions were so characteristic of
the noble-hearted woman whose name can never be for-
gotten in Arctic story that they must be given in full : —
"ABERDEEN, June 29, 1857.
" MY DEAR CAPTAIN M'CLINTOCK,
"You have kindly invited me to give you
* Instructions,' but I cannot bring myself to feel that it
would be right in me in any way to influence your judg-
ment in the conduct of your noble undertaking ; and
indeed I have no temptation to do so, since it appears
to me that your views are almost identical with those
which I had independently formed before I had the
advantage of being thoroughly possessed of yours.
But had this been otherwise, I trust you would have
found me ready to prove the implicit confidence I place
in you by yielding my own views to your more en-
lightened judgment ; knowing too as I do that your
whole heart also is in the cause, even as my own is. As
to the objects of the expedition and their relative im-
portance, I am sure that you know that the rescue of
any possible survivor of the Erebus and Terror would
be to me, as it would be to you, the noblest result of
our efforts.
" To this object I wish every other to be subordinate ;
and next to it in importance is the recovery of the un-
speakably precious documents of the expedition, public
and private, and the personal relics of my dear husband
and his companions.
" And lastly, I trust it may be in your power to con-
firm, directly or inferentially, the claims of my
210 BOOTHIA
husband's expedition to the earliest discovery of the
passage, which, if Dr. Rae's report be true (and the
Government of our country has accepted and rewarded
it as such), these martyrs in a noble cause achieved at
their last extremity, after five long years of labour and
suffering, if not at an earlier period.
" I am sure that you will do all that man can do for
the attainment of all these objects ; my only fear is
that you may spend yourselves too much in the effort ;
and you must therefore let me tell you how much
dearer to me even than any of them is the preservation
of the valuable lives of the little band of heroes who
are your companions and followers.
"May God in His great mercy preserve you all from
harm amidst the labours and perils which await you,
and restore you to us in health and safety as well as
honour. As to the honour I can have no misgiving.
It will be yours as much if you fail (since you may fail
in spite of every effort) as if you succeed ; and be
assured that, under any and all circumstances whatever,
such is my unbounded confidence in you, you will
possess and be entitled to the enduring gratitude of
your sincere and attached friend,
"JANE FRANKLIN."
The men of the Fox were worthy of the confidence
placed in them. Leaving Aberdeen on the 1st of July,
M'Clintock reached Disco on the last day of the month,
and, proceeding northwards, was, by a perverse freak of
fortune, beset in Melville Bay on the 8th of August,
and kept imprisoned thence onwards all through the
winter, drifting south through Baffin Bay and Davis
Strait. On the 26th of April, 1858, after a drift of
1194 geographical miles, the Fox escaped from the
to
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PORT KENNEDY 211
pack and steamed to the eastward amid the most
perilous of ice experiences. Most men would have
returned and tried again; not so M'Cliatock. He
boldly ran up the Greenland coast as if nothing had
happened and, making good deficiencies, resumed his
voyage. Soon after leaving Sanderson's Hope the
Fox was nearly wrecked near Buchan Island, remain-
ing on a rock until the tide rose again to set her free.
After calling at Beechey Island, M'Clintock followed
Franklin's track down Peel Sound until stopped by the
pack, when he retraced his course and tried Prince
Regent Inlet, reaching Bellot Strait on the 21st of
August. At Port Kennedy in this famous waterway—
which is like a Greenland fiord, about twenty miles long
and scarcely a mile wide at its narrowest part, the water
four hundred feet deep within a quarter of a mile of
its northern shore — he passed the winter.
On the 1st of March he reached by sledge the Magnetic
Pole and fell in with four of the Eoothian Eskimos,
who, at the cost of a needle each, built him a snow hut
in an hour, in which they all spent the night. " Per-
haps," says M'Clintock, "the records of architecture do
not furnish another instance of a dwelling-house so
cheaply constructed ! " Halting at Cape Victoria the
Eskimos came up from their village close by with a
number of small relics of the lost expedition. Return-
ing to the Fox after a journey of four hundred and
twenty statute miles in which the survey of the west
coast of Boothia was completed, everything was made
ready for three long sledge journeys of two sledges each,
the captain taking that for Montreal Island, and giving
Hobson the best chance of promotion by sending him
212 BOOTHIA
round the west coast of King William Land, while
Young took the Prince of Wales Land route.
On the east coast of King William Land M'Clintock
met with more Eskimos, from whom he obtained relics
and obtained information. Pushing on, he reached
Montreal Island on the 15th of May, where the only
traces of a boat were some scraps of copper and an
iron-hoop bolt. A crossing to the mainland on the
18th of May revealed no more ; and next day the
return journey began. Six days afterwards, walking
along a gravel ridge near the beach on the way to Cape
Herschel, M'Clintock found the first skeleton, partly
exposed, with a few fragments of clothing appearing
through the snow, evidently one of the men who, as
the old Eskimo woman said, fell down and died as they
walked along. Visiting Simpson's cairn at Cape Hers-
chel and meeting with nothing, he went on for about
twelve miles, where he caught sight of a small cairn
built by Hobson's party at their furthest south, reached
six days before, containing a note with the great news
that at Point Victory they had found what is now
known as the Franklin record.
This record, which has frequently been printed — in a
smaller size than the original — was one of the navy
bottle-papers with the request in six languages that
it should be forwarded to the Admiralty. A pale blue
paper, twelve and a half inches by eight, it was filled up
in the ordinary way, and then added to round the four
margins in the handwriting of Lieutenant Gore. Captain
Fitz James, and Captain Crozier, and signed by these
and C. F. Des Vceux. It had been first deposited four
miles away, so it said, " by the late Commander Gore,"
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THE FRANKLIN RECORD 213
in 1847, and next year found by Lieutenant Irving,
added to, and removed to the new cairn on the site of
Sir James Ross's pillar.
Brief as it was, it contained all the authentic informa-
tion regarding Franklin's voyage up to the time the ships
were abandoned. Resuming the return journey along
the edge of the strait where the meeting of the Pacific
and Atlantic tides keeps the ice drifting down from the
north-west almost constantly packed, M'Clintock reached
a boat with two skeletons and other relics already visited
by Hobson, who had found other cairns and many
relics, and, in Back Bay, another record by Gore, also
deposited in 1847, but giving no additional news.
Hobson was dragged alongside the Fox, on the 14th
of June, so ill with scurvy that he was unable to walk or
even stand without assistance. M'Clintock arrived five
days later ; and on the 27th Allen Young returned
after an exploration of three hundred and eighty miles
of coast-line, which, added to that discovered by
M'Clintock and Hobson, gave a total of eight hundred
geographical miles of new coast as the work of the
expedition, besides what it had done in clearing up the
Franklin mystery.
In 1869 Captain C. F. Hall collected other relics
and sufficient information to account for seventy-nine
men out of the hundred and five who left the ships.
Ten years after that, Schwatka, in his long, careful
search of King William Land, discovered the grave of
Lieutenant Irving, in which were some fragments of his
instruments and the prize medal he won at the Royal
Naval College. Near by were many traces indicating
that it was the site of the first encampment of the
214 BOOTHIA
retreating crews after leaving their ships ; and down
the coast he traced camp after camp, and death after
death. Irving's remains were brought away and are
buried at Edinburgh. The spot where they were found
was Cape Jane Franklin.
More fortunate than Franklin was Captain Roald
Amundsen. Leaving Christiania in the Gjoa on the
16th of June, 1903, he crossed the Atlantic and pro-
ceeded down Peel Sound, past Bellot Strait, and along
the west coast of Boothia, where a fire on the ship did
a certain amount of damage, and, struggling thereafter
for ten days among shoals and rocks, down James
Ross Strait, past Matty Island into Rae Strait, he
dropped anchor in Petersen Bay, King William Land.
For his base station he required a site in which the
inclination was eighty-nine degrees, and at Gjoahaven,
in this bay, he found it in 68° 30' N., 96° W.
Here he arranged his headquarters for his observa-
tions on the Magnetic Pole which were kept going
night and day for nineteen months ; and here he stayed
for two winters, moving about in the country around
and over into Boothia, where he proved that the Pole
was not immovable and stationary, but in all likelihood
in continual movement. Leaving the south-eastern
corner of King William Land in his little ship he
passed through Simpson Strait, linking up with Collin-
son ; and, like him, he was delayed for a winter on the
coast of the American mainland. Through Bering
Strait he reached San Francisco, where the voyage
ended in the sale of the Gjoa. Thus of Amundsen it
can be said, without any qualification whatever, that
he accomplished the North- West Passage.
CHAPTER XI
BAFFIN BAY
Sir Humphrey Gilbert — Sir Martin Frobisher — His first voyage— The fateful
stone — First meeting with the Eskimos — The Cathay Company — Second
voyage — Third voyage — Frobisher builds a fort — The ships among the
floes — Captain Hall finds the Frobisher relics — Adrian Gilbert — John
Davis — His voyages and dealings with the Eskimos — Reaches and names
Sanderson's Hope — The Traverse Book — William Baffin — His first voyage
to Greenland — His fourth and fifth voyages — Discovers Baffin Land — Dis-
covers Baffin Bay — Smith Sound— Jones Sound — Lancaster Sound —
Baffin's farthest north— John Ross and Parry verify his discoveries.
IN 1566 Humphrey Gilbert — who was as near to
heaven by sea as by land - - petitioned Queen
Elizabeth for privileges in regard to discoveries " by
the North-west to Cataia" as an alternative to a petition
he, in conjunction with Anthony Jenkinson, had pre-
sented the previous year for a voyage by the north-
east. He received no answer ; but ten years afterwards,
in support of this unanswered petition, he published
his Discourse of a Discovery for a New Passage to
Cataia. This met with approval, and led, with little
delay, to the expedition under the Martin Frobisher
who, among other noteworthy services, commanded
the Triumph in the Armada fight to such good purpose
that he was one of the five distinguished men knighted
by Howard in mid-channel after the battle off the
Isle of Wight.
Frobisher was a good seaman — but no mineralogist.
215
216 BAFFIN BAY
Mainly at the expense of Ambrose Dudley, Earl of
Warwick, and under the business management of that
old seafarer, Michael Lock, of the Muscovy Company,
he left Blackwall on the 7th of June, 1576, in the
Gabriel of twenty-five tons, accompanied by the
Michael of twenty tons — which deserted and returned
as soon as difficulties arose — and a ten-ton pinnace,
which ended by foundering off Greenland. All told,
the expedition numbered thirty-five, of whom the
Gabriel carried eighteen ; and with these the voyage
through the Arctic Ocean was to be made to China.
Leaving the Shetlands at her top speed of a league
and a half an hour — which her master, good Christopher
Hall, proudly recorded — the Gabriel sighted Cape Fare-
well on the llth of July. Two days afterwards she
was thrown on her beam-ends in a storm, and was
rapidly filling with water flowing in at her waist when
she was relieved by the loss of her fore-yard and the
cutting away of her mizen-mast. Rounding the cape,
steering westward when he could among the floating
ice, Frobisher reached a high headland at the south-
east end of what is now Frobisher Bay, which he
named Queen Elizabeth Foreland. A few days after-
wards Hall, out in a boat seeking a way through the
ice for the ship, landed on what they called Hall's
Island, and, noticing a fog coming on, left hurriedly,
snatching up, as specimens of the plants, a few grasses
and flowers, and, as a rock specimen, a heavy black
stone picked up haphazard on the beach. The grass
faded, the flowers perished, and the fateful stone
remained.
For fifty leagues Frobisher sailed north-westward
SIR MARTIN FROBISHER
To face page 216
THE FATEFUL STONE 217
into the bay, thinking it to be a strait with Asia on
the right hand and America on the left. He landed
at what he called Butcher's Island, saw " mightie deere
which ramie ?,t him and hardly he escaped with his
life in a narrow way where he was faine to use defence
and policie," and from a hill-top " perceived a number
of small things fleeting in the sea afarre off whyche
hee supposed to be porposes or scales or some kind of
strange fishe but coming nearer he discovered them to
be men in small boates made of leather," who only just
failed in capturing his boat before he reached it. Subse-
quent conferences with the Eskimos ended in his losing
the boat with five men who had gone ashore to trade ;
and finally, having lifted single-handed one of the
interesting natives, kayak and all, into the Gabriel, he
made sail for home.
When Lock went aboard on the ship's arrival there
were no riches from Cathay, nothing worth mention-
ing beyond the Eskimo — who soon died — the kayak
and paddle, and " the fyrste thynge found in the new
land," the black stone. He carried away the stone,
after chipping off a few fragments for the friends
around, and after a week or two's consideration sent
some of it to the Mint to be assayed. The report was
not as he expected ; the " saymaster " was of opinion
that it was marcasite, that is, iron pyrites. Not satisfied,
Lock sent some to another expert, who also said it was
pyrites. Then he tried a third man, who could find no
gold in it. And then lie tried a fourth— this time an
Italian — who gave him the answer he wanted: "A very
little powder of gold came thereout."
Lock sent him some more, telling him frankly that
218 BAFFIN BAY
three other assayers "could find no such thing therein,"
but again the Italian was equal to the occasion. " The
xviii day of January," writes Lock, " he sent me by his
mayde this little scrap of paper written, No. 1, herein-
closed ; and thereinclosed the grayne of gold, which
afterward I delivered to your majesty." For the Queen
had become interested in the wonderful stone which
was the talk of the town, its value increasing at every
recital until many believed, as Sir Philip Sidney seems
to have done, that it was " the purest gold unalloyed
with any other metals."
Lock was not the man to let such excellent adver-
tisement be lost, and forth with he projected the Cathay
Company for which the charter was obtained from the
Crown on St. Patrick's Day, 1577. Lock was named as
Governor for six years with remuneration " for ever "
of one per cent on all goods imported ; Frobisher was
named as Captain by sea and Admiral of the ships and
navy of the Company for life with a yearly stipend and
one per cent, like Lock, on all goods the Company
brought in. Queen Elizabeth — notwithstanding the
report from the Mint —headed the list of shareholders
with £1000 ; and Burghley, Howard, Leicester, Wal-
singham, Hunsdon, Sidney, even Gresham, subscribed
for shares in this remarkable company.
To bring home more of the "golden ore," a new
expedition was entered upon at once, and on the 26th
of May, Whit-Sunday as it happened, Frobisher
started on his second voyage. He had three vessels,
the Aid of two hundred tons, lent him from the
Royal Navy, and the Gabriel and Michael as before,
and one hundred and twenty officers and men, of whom
FROBISHEITS SECOND VOYAGE 219
thirty were miners and other landsmen, and, in addition,
six condemned criminals whom he was to land in Green-
land as colonists but put ashore at Harwich instead.
To the new land — named by the Queen Meta
Incognita, " the unknown limit of the outward course "
-he made his way without much adventure. Land-
ing on Hall's Island, he sought for more stone but
could find not so much as a piece as big as a walnut ;
for Hall, who was again with him as master, had
apparently lighted, in the one sample, on the whole of
its mineral wealth. This disappointment, however, was
forgotten in the finding of occasional patches of pyrites
on the mainland and other islands which in due course
were visited. Thirty leagues up the bay a landing was
made on what was called Countess of Warwick's
Island, where more ore was found and a fort called
Best's Bulwark was built. That was Frobisher's
farthest on this voyage, and thence he sailed on the
24th of August, bringing with him two hundred tons
of pyrites, and, as a present for the Queen, a horn two
yards long, wreathed and straight, which he had found
in the nose of a dead narwhal.
The ore was received with rejoicings. Some of it
was deposited in Bristol Castle, some in the Tower of
London under four locks, but there was not enough of it ;
and as there were then, as now, no furnaces in England
capable of getting gold out of marcasite, a new ex-
pedition was despatched while the furnaces were being
prepared. This time the enterprise was to be on a very
different scale. Frobisher was given a fleet of fifteen
vessels, Drake's old ship, the Judith, amongst them, the
Aid, as before, being the flagship. He was to bring
220 BAFFIN BAY
home two thousand tons of mineral and find other
mines, if he could, besides taking out a colony of a
hundred persons to settle in Meta Incognita, for whom
the materials of a wooden house were among the mis-
cellaneous cargo.
The fleet left Harwich on the 31st of May, 1578. A
landing was made in the south of Greenland, which
Frobisher named West England and took possession
of, his point of departure from there being called by
him, " from a certain similitude," Charing Cross ! Soon
he was among the ice floes. One of the ships was driven
on to a floe and sank with some of the materials for the
wooden house. Then followed a storm in which most
of the ships had a terrible experience. " Some," says
Captain Best of the Ann Frances, the chronicler of the
voyage, " were so fast shut up and compassed in amongst
an infinite number of great countreys and ilands of ise,
that they were fayne to submit themselves and their
ships to the mercie of the unmercifull ise, and strength-
ened the sides of their ships with junckes of cables,
beds, masts, planckes, and such like, which being hanged
overboord, on the sides of their shippes, mighte the
better defend them from the outrageous sway and
strokes of the said ise. But as in greatest distresse,
men of best value are best to be discerned, so it is
greatly worthy commendation and noting with what
invincible mind every captayne encouraged his company,
and with what incredible labour the paynefull mariners
and poore miners (unacquainted with such extremities)
to the everlasting renoune of our nation, dyd overcome
the brunt of these so great and extreame daungers ; for
some, even without boorde uppon the ise, and some
FROBISHEITS THIRD VOYAGE 221
within boorde, uppon the sides of their shippes, having
poles, pikes, peeces of timber and ores in their hands,
stood almost day and night, without any reste, bearing
off' the force, and breaking the sway of the ise, with
suche incredible payne and perill that it was wonderful!
to behold, which otherwise no doubt had striken quite
through and through the sides of their shippes, not-
withstanding our former provision ; for planckes of
timber, of more than three ynches thick, and other
things of greater force and bignesse, by the surging of
the sea and billow, with the ise were shevered and cutte
in sunder at the sides of oure ships, that it will seeme
more than credible to be reported of. And yet (that
which is more) it is faythfully and playnely to be proved,
and that by many substantiall witnesses, that our
shippes, even those of greatest burdens, with the
meeting of contrary waves of the sea, were heaved up
betweene ilandes of ise a foote welneere out of the sea
above their watermarke, having their knees and timbers
within boorde both bowed and broken therewith."
To add to the difficulties of the voyage Frobisher
lost his way, and entered what he called the Mistaken
Streight — now designated Hudson Strait — through
which he might have found his way to Cathay, had he
been so minded ; but recognising that he was on the
wrong road he returned and reached his mining district
at the end of July. While the ore was being gathered
in, Best ventured into the upper part of Frobisher Bay
as far as the Gabriel Islands — the only exploring work
that was done — and early in September the fleet de-
parted on the homeward voyage.
Frobisher had left one unmistakable indication of
222 BAFFIN BAY
his visit behind him. On Countess of Warwick Island
he had built a house of lime and stone, and " the better,"
says Best, " to allure those brutish and uncivill people to
courtesie, againste other times of our comming, we left
therein dyvers of our countrye toyes, as bells and knives,
wherein they specially delight, one for the necessarie
use, and the other for the great pleasure thereof. Also
pictures of men and women in lead, men a horsebacke,
lookinglasses, whistles and pipes. Also in the house
was made an oven, and breade left baked therein, for
them to see and taste. We buried the timber of our
pretended forte, with manye barrels of meale, pease,
griste, and sundrie other good things, which was of the
provision of those whyche should inhabite, if occasion
served. And insteade therof we fraight oure ships
full of ore, whiche we holde of farre greater price."
Here we part from the Cathay Company. The in-
evitable trouble came with the discovery that, practically,
the only gold the ore would yield was that put in as an
" additament " by the Italian. A very thick cloud
rolled over Frobisher, who, like Lock, seems to have
believed in the genuineness of the affair all through ;
but soon his country had need of him and he came to
the front again in so worthy a manner that little more
was heard of his connection with this company that
failed.
To complete the story. In 1861 (say three hundred
years afterwards) Captain Hall — hearing among the
Eskimos how numerous white men had arrived first in
two, then three, then a great many ships, how they had
killed several natives and taken away two, how five of
the white men had been captured, and how these had
ESKIMO AWAITING A SEAL
To face page 222
JOHN DAVIS 223
built a large boat and put a mast in her and sailed away
to death when the water was open— went to Kod-lun-
arn (White Man's Island) and there found the house of
lime and stone as described, and traces of the diggings,
and many relics among which he made the collection
presented by him to the British Government.
In the year 1583, when Sir Humphrey Gilbert, whose
Discourse gave so great a stimulus to Arctic discovery,
founded St. John's, Newfoundland— the first English
colony in America — a patent was granted by Queen
Elizabeth to his brother Adrian "of Sandridge in the
county of Devon," as one of the colleagues of the
Fellowship for the Discovery of the North -West
Passage. At this Sandridge — on the east of the Dart,
bounded on three sides by the river, some two miles
above Dartmouth — was the home of the three Gilberts
(John, Humphrey, and Adrian), whose mother by a
second marriage became the mother of Carew and
Walter Raleigh ; and here, about 1550, of a family
also owning property in the small peninsula, was born
John Davis, as we know him, or John Davys, as he
signed himself, who was probably a playmate, and
certainly a life-long friend, of these five.
Davis was an accomplished seaman, the best of the
Elizabethan navigators, and a man of accurate observa-
tion, always on the alert, whose reputation does not
rest only on the work he did in the northern and other
seas, for he was the author of The Seaman's Secrets,
the most popular practical navigation treatise of its
time. Very early, perhaps from the first, he was one
of the moving spirits in this new north-west enterprise,
for on the 23rd of January, 1583, we find Dr. Dee-
224 BAFFIN BAY
who had helped to send Frobisher on his first voyage
— making an entry in his journal that Mr. Secretary
Walsingham had come to his house, where by good
luck he found Mr. Adrian Gilbert, and so talk began
on " the north-west straits discovery " ; and, next day,
" I, Mr. Awdrian Gilbert and John Davis, went by
appointment to Mr. Beale, his howse, where only we
four were secret, and we made Mr. Secretary privie of
the N.W. Passage, and all charts and rutters were
agreed upon in generall " — " rutter " being the French
" routier," originating in Le Routier de la Mer, signify-
ing a book of sea routes. Another important friend
of Davis was William Sanderson, the representative
of the merchants by whom the expenses of the voyage
were borne, he being the chief subscriber. One of the
ships, the Moonshine, seems to have belonged to him,
and it was largely owing to his influence among the
shareholders that Davis was appointed captain and
chief pilot of the " exployt," in which he was to
practically rediscover Greenland.
There were two vessels, the Sunshine of London,
fifty-nine tons, with twenty-three persons on board,
and the Moonshine of Dartmouth, thirty-five tons, with
nineteen. They left Dartmouth on the 7th of June,
1585, but had to put in at Falmouth and then at the
Scillies, where Davis occupied the twelve days he
spent there in surveying and charting the islands. On
the 20th of July they were sailing down the east coast
of Greenland, and were so little attracted by it that
Davis called it the Land of Desolation. Nine days
afterwards he found a group of many pleasant green
islands bordering on the shore, while the mountains of
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THE REDISCOVERY OF GREENLAND 225
the mainland were still covered with snow, and here he
landed on the west coast at Gilbert Sound, as he named
it, near where Godthaab now is, and entered into com-
munication with the natives.
For such occasions, apparently, he had among the
Sunshine people four described as musicians, whom, on
sighting the Eskimos, he sent for. As soon as they
arrived from the ship he ordered them to strike up a
dancing tune, and to their merry music Davis and his
men began to caper as if they were enjoying them-
selves immensely, while the lookers-on gradually in-
creased in number. " At length," he says, " one of
them poynting up to the sunne with his hande would
presently strike his brest so hard that we might hear
the blowe. This he did many times, before he would
any way trust us. Then John Ellis the master of the
Mooneshine, was appointed to use his best policie to
gaine their friendshippe : who strooke his breast and
poynted to the sunne after their order : which when he
had diverse times done, they began to trust him, and
one of them came on shoare, to whom we threwe our
caps, stockings and gloves, and such other things as
then we had about us, playing with our musicke, and
making signes of joy, and dancing. So the night
comming we bade them farewell, and went aboord
our barks."
The next morning, being the 30th of July, thirty-
seven canoes came up to the ships, their occupants
calling to the English to come on shore. " Wee not
making any great haste unto them, one of them went
up to the top of the rocke, and lept and daunced as
they had done the day before, shewing us a scales
226 BAFFIN BAY
skinne, and another thing made like a timbrel, which
he did beate upon with a sticke, making a noyse like a
small drumme." Whereupon Davis manned his boats
and went to the waterside where they were in their
canoes, " and after we had sworne by the sunne after
their fashion, they did trust us. So I shooke hands
with one of them, and hee kissed my hand, and we
were very familier with them. We bought five canoas
of them, we bought their clothes from their backs,
which were all made of scales skins and birdes skinnes :
their buskins, their hose, their gloves, all being com-
monly sewed and well dressed : so that we were fully
persuaded that they have divers artificers among them.
Wee had a paire of buskins of them full of fine wooll
like bever. Their apparell for heate, was made of bird
skinnes with their feathers on them. We sawe among
them leather dressed like glovers leather, and thicke
thongs like white leather of a good length. Wee had
of their darts and oares, and found in them that they
would by no meanes displease us, but would give us
whatsoever we asked of them and would be satisfied
with whatsoever we gave them. They took great care
one of an other : for when we had bought their boates,
then two other woulde come and carie him away be-
tweene them that had soulde us his." He describes
them as "a very tractable people, voyde of craft or
double dealing, and easie to be brought to civiltie or
good order," the men of good stature, unbearded,
small-eyed, " by whom, as signes would permit, we
understood that towards the north and west there was
a great sea."
During his stay among these islands he found con-
DISCOVERY OF DAVIS STRAIT 227
siderable quantities of wood — fir, spruce, and juniper-
which whether it came floating any great distance or
grew in some island near he did not discover ; but he
thought it grew further inland because the people had
so many darts and paddles which they held of little
value and gave away for insignificant trifles. He also
found " great abundance of scales " in shoals as if they
were small fish ; but saw no fresh water, only snow
water in large pools, and he notes that the " clifFes were
all of such oare as M. Frobisher brought from Meta
Incognita."
Leaving the sound on the 1 st of August he crossed
the strait now named after him and reached land in
66° 40'. In water " altogether voyd from ye pester of
ice " he anchored, " in a very fair rode, under a very
brave mount, the cliffs whereof were as orient as gold."
This mount he named Mount Raleigh, the roadstead
he called Totnes Rode, the sound round the mount he
named Exeter Sound, the foreland to the north he
called Dyer's Cape, the southern foreland being named
Cape Walsingham — all of which names remain. Here
white bears were killed " of monstrous bignesse," a
raven was descried upon Mount Raleigh, withies were
found growing low like shrubs, and there were flowers
like primroses, though there was no grass.
For three days Davis went coasting downwards, and
rounding the southern point of the peninsula, which he
named the Cape of God's Mercy, he entered what he
afterwards called Cumberland Strait, now Cumberland
Gulf, supposing it to be his way to the westward. It
was clear of ice ; sixty leagues up islands were found,
among which a stay was made during five days of very
228 BAFFIN BAY
foggy foul weather. On the 15th of August "we
heard dogs houle on the shoare, which we thought had
bene Wolves, and therefore we went on shoare to kil
them ; when we came on lande, the dogs came presently
to our boate very gently, yet we thought they came to
pray upon us, and therefore we shot at them and killed
two : and about the necke of one of them we found
a letheren coller, whereupon we thought them to be
tame dogs. Then wee went farther and founde two
sleads made like ours in Englande. The one was made
of firre, spruse and oken boards, sawen like inch
boards ; the other was made all of whale bone, and
there hung on the toppes of the sleds three heads of
beasts, which they had killed. We saw here larkes,
ravens, and partriges " — probably rock ptarmigan.
Searching about, it was agreed that the place was all
islands, with sounds passing between them ; that the
water remained of the same colour as the main ocean,
whereas in every bay they had been into it became
blackish ; that a shoal of whales they saw must have
come from the west, because to the eastward no whale
had been seen ; that " there came a violent counter
checke of a tide from the southwest against the flood
which we came with, not knowing from whence it was
maintayned " ; that the further they ran westward the
deeper was the water, " so that hard abord the shoare
among these yles we could not have ground in 330
fathoms " ; and that, lastly, there was a tide range of
six or seven fathoms, " the flood comming from
diverse parts, so as we could not perceive the chiefe
maintenance thereof." For which six reasons it was
determined to continue the voyage to the westward if
THE SECOND VOYAGE OF JOHN DAVIS 229
the weather changed — which it did to worse with the
wind unfavourable, so that the ships had to run for
shelter and then sail for home, crossing the Atlantic
from Greenland in a fortnight. On arrival Davis
reported to Walsingham that the North-West Passage
was a matter nothing doubtful, but at any time almost
to be passed, the sea navigable, void of ice, the air
tolerable, and the waters very deep ; and a voyage for
next year was decided on, for which the merchants
of Exeter, Totnes, London, Cullompton, Chard, and
Tiverton, and five private subscribers, "did adventure
their money" — to the amount of £1175 — "with Mr.
Adrian Gilbert and Mr. John Davis in a voyage for
the discovery of China, the seventh daie of April in
the xxviij yeare of the rayne of or. soverayne Ladie
Elizabeth."
The fleet, consisting of the Mermaid of one hundred
and twenty tons, the Sunshine and Moonshine, and a
ten-ton pinnace named the North Star, left Dartmouth
on the 7th of May, 1586. On reaching Greenland the
Sunshine and North Star were sent up the east coast
of Greenland, while the Mermaid and Moonshine made
for Gilbert Sound.
Here the Eskimos received them cordially " after
they had espied in the boate, some of our companie
that were the yeere before heere with us, they presently
rowed to the boate, and tooke holde on the oare, and
hung about the boate with such comfortable joy as
woulde require a long discourse to be uttered : they
came with the boates to our shippes, making signes
that they knewe all those that the yere before had
bene with them. After I perceived their joy, and smal
230 BAFFIN BAY
feare of us, my selfe with the merchaunts, and others
of the company went a shoare, bearing with me
twentie knives : I had no sooner landed, but they lept
out of their Canoas, and came running to mee and the
rest, and unbraced us with many signes of hartie
welcome : at this present there were eighteene of them,
and to each of them I gave a knife : they offered
skinnes to mee for rewarde, but I made signes that it
was not solde, but given them of curtesie : and so dis-
missed them for that time, with signes that they
shoulde returne againe after certaine houres." But
soon there were passing troubles owing to iron having
so great an attraction for them that they could not
resist stealing it. While amongst them, exploring the
country, Davis compiled the first Eskimo vocabulary
known, a list of some forty words written down
phonetically, most of them remarkably good approaches
considering that both parties were ignorant of each
other's language, none of them, however, except that
for " sea " being likely to be of any use in putting him
on the road to China.
On leaving Gilbert Sound, Davis when in latitude
63° 8' " fel upon a most mighty and strange quantity of
ice, in one intyre masse, so bigge as that we knew not
the limits thereof, and being withall so very high, in
forme of a land, with bayes and capes, and like high
cliffe land, as that we supposed it to be land, and there-
fore sent our pinnesse off to discover it : but at her
returne we were certainely informed that it was onely
ice, which bred great admiration to us all, considering
the huge quantity thereof, incredible to be reported in
truth as it was, and therefore 1 omit to speake any
THE SHOAL OF CODFISH 231
further thereof. This onely, I thinke that the like
before was never scene, and in this place we had very
stickle and strong currants. We coasted this mighty
masse of ice untill the 30 of July, finding it a mighty
bar to our purpose : the ayre in this time was so con-
tagious, and the sea so pestered with ice, as that all
hope was banished of proceeding : for the 24 of July
all our shrowds, ropes, and sailes were so frozen, and
compassed with ice, onely by a grosse fogge, as seemed
to me more then strange, sith the last yeere I found this
sea free and navigable, without impediments."
Crossing the straits he repaired and revictualled the
Moonshine in an excellent harbour among islands where
they found it very hot and were " very much troubled
with a flie which is called Musketa, for they did sting
grievously." Forsaken by the Mermaid, he abandoned
the search in Cumberland Sound as he "found small
hope to pass any farther that way," and worked south,
it being too late to go northwards, crossing Frobisher
Bay, which he described as " another great inlet neere
forty leagues broad where the water entered with
violent swiftnesse, this we also thought might be a
passage, for no doubt the north parts of America are
all islands." Off the coast of Labrador he found a vast
shoal of codfish, of which he caught over forty with a
long spike nail made into a hook. These he salted, and
some of them, on his return, he gave, at Walsingham's
request, to Burghley, who, at an interview, encouraged
him to make a further attempt.
Next year he was off again, this time " to the Isles
of the Molucca or the coast of China." He seems to
have been on board the Ellen, a small craft of some
232 BAFFIN BAY
twenty tons, his two other vessels being the Sunshine
as before, and the Elizabeth. These he left to fish for
cod in the straits while he went northward from Gilbert
Sound in his little " clinker," which he had probably
chosen as being handy for ice navigation. Running
along the land, to which he gave the name of London
Coast, he reached 72° 12' — the highest north up to then
attained — where he named the loftiest of the headlands
Sanderson's Hope, whose lofty crest piercing through
the driving clouds near Upernivik has become perhaps
the best-known landmark in the northern seas. Here
the wind suddenly shifting to the northward made
further progress impossible, and he had to shape his
course westerly, and then, owing to ice, which he in
vain endeavoured to get round to the north, he had to
turn southwards. Amid much fog, and with the ice
always present, he came down the coast of Baffin Land,
giving a name here and there on the way, until on the
31st of July he passed "a very great gulfe, the water
whirling and roring, as it were the meetings of tides,"
which was probably the entrance to Hudson Strait.
Next day he was off' the Labrador coast and named
Cape Chidley after his friend who died in the Straits of
Magellan, and on the 15th of August he laid his course
for England.
Of this voyage Hakluyt prints the Traverse Book,
one of the earliest known. In it the full detail is given
for every day, arranged in nine columns, one each for
the month, the day, the hour, the courses, the leagues,
the elevation of the pole in degrees and minutes, the
wind, and a remarks column headed " The Discourse "
— for Davis was an exact and systematic man remark-
BAFFIN BAY IN 1819
To face page 232
BAFFIN AND BYLOT 233
able for his latitudes never being wrong, though like
all those old navigators before the invention of the
chronometer, he was frequently out in his longitude.
He was going off again bound for the sea north of
Sanderson's Hope, but the coming of the Armada and
the death of Walsingham caused the postponement of
the project he did not abandon, for it seems that the
Desire, in which he discovered the Falkland Islands at
the other end of America, was to be his reward for
accompanying Cavendish round the world, and that in
her he intended to make his next Polar voyage.
The work he had set himself to do was done by
William Baffin, who first appears in the Arctic record
as pilot of the Patience in James Hall's Greenland
voyage in 1612, which ended in Hall being killed in
revenge for the kidnapping proceedings on the two
previous voyages under the Danish flag. Baffin then
made two voyages, as we have seen, to Spitsbergen in
the service of the Muscovy Company, and, in that of the
Company for the Discovery of the North-West Passage,
he made his fourth, in 1615. In Hudson's old ship the
Discovery, also her fourth trip to the north, he passed
up Hudson Strait to the end of Southampton Island,
where he abandoned the attempt to get through owing
to ice and shallow water, and returned after discovering
the land that Parry named after him.
In his fifth voyage, again in the Discovery, with
Robert Bylot again as master, he left Gravesend on
the 16th of March, 1616, and reached Sanderson's
Hope on the 30th of May, discovering the great bay
to the north which bears his name. Passing the
Women Islands and the Baffin Islands off Cape
234 BAFFIN BAY
Shackleton, he took the middle passage across Melville
Bay, coasting along by Cape York, by the cape named
after one of his directors, Sir Dudley Digges, and the
sound named after another of his directors, Sir John
Wolstenholme ; along Prudhoe Land, entering the North
Water of the whalers, reaching Cape Alexander in
77° 45', his farthest north ; opening up and naming
Smith Sound, after Sir Thomas Smith, another of his
directors, and Jones Sound, after Alderman Sir Francis
Jones, another of the board, and Lancaster Sound,
after Sir James Lancaster of the East India Company.
Thus, coasting Ellesmere Land, North Devon, Bylot
Island, and Baffin Land, he continued his voyage from
the north on his way home. A good piece of work :
the discoveries so many and unexpected that people
ceased to believe in them, geographers going so far as
to erase his bay from their maps until, two hundred
years afterwards, Ross and Parry sailed over the land
of the unbelievers and confirmed Baffin's work in every
detail — and Ross, in his best mountain-finding manner,
reported no thoroughfare at Smith Sound.
DR. E. K. KANE
To face page 234
CHAPTER XII
SMITH SOUND
Captain Inglefield— Dr. Kane— The open Polar Sea— Hans Hendrik the
Greenlander— Kalutuuah the Eskimo— An Eskimo bear-hunt— A lesson
in catching auks— Dr. Hayes — His journey over the glacier — Tyndall
Glacier— Captain C. F. Hall— Joe and Hannah— Voyage of the Po/aris—
Drift of the Polaris— The voyage on the ice-floe — The British Government
Expedition of 1875— The Alert and Dia<'overy—T\\Q cairn on Washington
Irving Island — Discovery Harbour — How the Alert got into safety at
Floeberg Beach — Low temperatures — Nares on sledging— Description of
the sledges and their burden— Markham starts for the Pole — Reaches
83D 20' 26" — Outbreak of scurvy — Parr's walk — Aldrich's journey west —
—Beaumont's journey east — The perilous homeward voyage.
EDY FRANKLIN, who incidentally did so much
for Arctic discovery, sent out the Isabel in 1852
under Commander, afterwards Sir, Edward Augustus
Inglefield to search for her husband to the north of
Baffin Bay. Unlike John Ross, the names of whose
ships, Isabella and Alexander, are borne by the capes
at its entrance, he found Smith Sound to be the high-
way to the north. Steaming up the open water
" stretching through seven points of the compass,"
noting the coasts as he went, he was turned back by the
ice in 78° 28', at the entrance to the Kane Sea, with
Cairn Point and the way in to Rensselaer Harbour on
his right, and Cape Sabine and Ellesmere Land, which
he named, on his left ; the furthest north he sighted
being Cape Louis Napoleon, the furthest east Cape
Frederick VII, now known as Cape Russell. Needless
235
236 SMITH SOUND
to say he found no Franklin traces, although he really
looked for them.
Twelve months afterwards Dr. Elisha Kent Kane in
the United States brig Advance followed in his track
and wintered in Rensselaer Harbour, nine miles further
north. Ostensibly Kane was on a Franklin search, but
his real object was the Pole. He explored the sea
named after him, naming many landmarks, not always
placing them in their true positions, and underwent
many hardships. For one mistake he was famous for
a time, and his reputation now suffers. One of his ex-
pedition, William Morton, almost reached Cape Consti-
tution, in about 80|°, which he placed some sixty
miles too far north, and described as the corner of the
north coast of Greenland ; and from the southern horn
of the bay of which it is the northern boundary he
looked out over the south of Kennedy Channel, which
is open every summer, and mistook it for the Polar
Sea. And he returned with a report of an even more
wonderful discovery than the Polar Sea, for, according
to the illustration, he beheld the midnight sun dipping
in its waters on Midsummer Day.
In May, 1854, the month before Morton's discoveries,
Dr. Hayes and William Godfrey crossed the Kane Sea
to connect the northern coast with Inglefield's survey,
" but it disclosed no channel or any form of exit from
the bay," being, in fact, Ellesmere Land continued, and
yet on reaching the shore for the first time at Hayes
Point, three miles north of Cape Louis Napoleon, and
following it for two miles to Cape Frazer, they quite
unnecessarily named the country Grinnell Land. On
the other side of this sea the chief discovery was
a-
KALUTUNAH
To face page 236
KALUTUNAH THE ESKIMO 237
Kane's Humboldt glacier, some fifty miles north-east
of their winter quarters, which was described as " the
mighty crystal bridge which connects the two continents
of America and Greenland," when, of course, it does
nothing of the sort.
What with sickness, accident, and other disaster, it
became evident that the Advance would never leave her
wintering place, and in July Kane set off on a wild
endeavour to reach Beechey Island and obtain relief
from the Franklin search vessels, but he had to return.
Next month Hayes was sent to Upernivik, but he also
came back. Finally in May, 1855, the brig was aban-
doned and the survivors began their journey to the
south. Fortunately on the outward voyage Kane, at
Fiskernaes, had engaged Hans Hendrik the Green-
lander, then a boy of nineteen, who became quite a
prominent figure in this and subsequent voyages, and
without him and Kalutunah, chief of the Etah Eskimos,
the whole party would have perished miserably.
Hans first appears when spearing a bird on the wing ;
Kalutunah's first appearance was equally encouraging.
" The leader of the party," says Kane, " was a noble
savage, greatly superior in everything to the others of
his race. He greeted me with respectful courtesy, yet
as one who might rightfully expect an equal measure
of it in return, and, after a short interchange of saluta-
tions, seated himself in the post of honour at my side.
I waited, of course, till the company had fed and slept,
for among savages especially haste is indecorous, and
then, after distributing a few presents, opened to them
my project of a northern exploration. Kalutunah
received his knife and needles with a ' Kuyanaka,' ' I
238 SMITH SOUND
thank you ' ; the first thanks I have heard from a native
of this upper region. He called me his friend
' Asakaoteet,' ' I love you well ' — and would be happy,
he said, to join the nalegak-soak in a hunt."
And the journey ended in a hunt, for the dogs caught
sight of a large male bear in the act of devouring a seal.
The impulse was irresistible ; Kane lost all control over
both dogs and drivers, who seemed dead to everything
but the passion of pursuit. Off they sped with in-
credible speed ; the Eskimos clinging to their sledges
and cheering their dogs with loud cries. A mad, wild
chase, wilder than German legend — " the dogs, wolves ;
the drivers, devils." After a furious run, the animal
was brought to bay, and the lance and rifle did their
work. There were more bears and more hunts, and
when Kane objected that this could hardly be called
northern exploration, he was told by Kalutunah, sig-
nificantly, that the bear-meat was absolutely necessary
for the support of their families, and that the nalegak-
soak had no right to prevent him from providing for
his household. " It was a strong argument," says
Kane, "and withal the argument of the strong."
Bear-hunting hereabouts has its dangers, for the
Eskimos of the north are not armed with bows and
arrows as are those of the mainland. When the bear
is found the dogs are set upon the trail, and the hunter
runs by their side in silence. As he turns the angle
ahead his game is in view before him, stalking probably
along with quiet march, sometimes sniffing the air
suspiciously, but making, nevertheless, for a clump of
hummocks. The dogs spring forward, opening in a
wild wolfish yell, the driver shrieking " Nannook !
O
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C/3
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AN ESKIMO BEAR-HUNT 239
nannook!" and all straining every nerve in pursuit.
The bear rises on his haunches, views his pursuers,
and starts off' at full speed. The hunter, as he runs,
leaning over his sledge, seizes the traces of a couple of
his dogs and liberates them from their burden. It is
the work of a minute ; for the speed is not checked and
the remaining dogs rush on with apparent ease. Pressed
more severely, the bear stands at bay while his two
foremost pursuers halt at a short distance and quietly
await the arrival of the hunter. At this moment the
whole pack are liberated ; the hunter grasps his lance,
and, stumbling through the snow and ice, prepares for
the encounter. Grasping the lance firmly in his hands
he provokes the animal to pursue him by moving
rapidly across its path, and then running as if to escape.
But hardly is its long body extended for the tempting
chase, before, with a quick jump, the hunter doubles
on his track, and, as the bear turns after him again,
the lance is plunged into the left side below the
shoulder ; and that so dexterously, that, if it be an
inch or so wide of the proper spot, the spear has
to be left in the bear and the man has to run for
his life.
At this hazardous work Kalutunah was an adept, and
he was equally skilful at a much less dangerous game,
as Dr. Hayes was to discover when wintering in the
schooner United States in Foulke Harbour, further
south, in 1860-61. Hayes wished to learn how to
catch auks, and the Eskimo gave him a lesson.
Kalutunah carried a small net, made of light strings of
sealskin knitted together, the staff by which it was held
being about ten feet in length. Arriving about half-way
240 SMITH SOUND
up the cliffs he crouched behind a rock and invited the
doctor to follow his example. The slope on which the
birds were congregated was about a mile long, and in
vast flocks they were sweeping over it a few feet above
the stones down the whole length of the hill, returning
higher in the air, and so round and round in a complete
circuit. Occasionally a few hundreds or thousands
would drop down as if following some leader, and in
an instant the rocks, for some distance, would swarm
with them as they speckled the hill with their black
backs and white breasts. The doctor was told to lie
lower, as the birds noticed him and were flying too
far overhead. Having placed himself as Kalutunah
approved, the birds began to sweep lower and lower
in their flight until their track came well within reach.
Then, as a dense portion of the crowd approached, up
went the net, and half a dozen birds flew into it, and,
stunned by the blow, could not recover before the
Eskimo had slipped the staff through his hands and
seized the net. With his left hand he pressed down
the birds, while with the right he drew them out one
by one, and, for want of a third hand, used his teeth to
crush their heads. The wings were then locked across
each other ; and with an air of triumph the old chief
looked around, spat the blood and feathers from his
mouth, and went on with the sport, tossing up his net
and hauling it in with much rapidity until he had
caught about a hundred, and wanted no more.
Hayes did his best to disparage both Kalutunah and
Hans, to whom he was not quite so much indebted as
Kane, owing to his having given himself a better chance
of retreat by not taking the schooner out of Smith
To face page 240
THE HAYES EXPEDITION 241
Sound, his quarters in Hartstene Bay being only some
twelve miles north of Cape Alexander. He had come
to verify the existence of the open sea and sail to the
Pole across it if he could ; and he verified it to his
own satisfaction. But he did not get so far north as
Morton, although he claimed to have done so, for he
climbed a cliff eight hundred feet high and looked out
over the open water — in Kennedy Channel — and did
not see the Greenland cliffs trending away northwards
within thirty miles of him, and visible all the way up
for two degrees north of Cape Constitution. Thus he
left the map as Kane left it, with Greenland cut off
short south of the eighty-first parallel, and his farthest
seems to have been the south point of Rawlings Bay,
where the Alert was forced on shore in August, 1870,
in 80° 15'.
" I climbed," he says, " the steep hillside to the top
of a ragged cliff, which I supposed to be about eight
hundred feet above the level of the sea. The view
which I had from this elevation furnished a solution of
the cause of my progress being arrested on the previous
day. The ice was everywhere in the same condition as
in the mouth of the bay across which I had endeavoured
to pass. A broad crack, starting from the middle of
the bay, stretched over the sea, and uniting with other
cracks as it meandered to the eastward, it expanded as
the delta of some mighty river discharging into the
ocean, and under a water-sky, which hung upon the
northern horizon, it was lost in the open sea. The sea
beneath me was a mottled sheet of white and dark
patches, these latter being either soft decaying ice or
places where the ice had wholly disappeared. These
242 SMITH SOUND
spots were heightened in intensity of shade and multi-
plied in size as they receded, until the belt of the
water-sky blended them all together into one uniform
colour of dark blue. The old and solid floes (some a
quarter of a mile, and others miles across) and the
massive ridges and wastes of hummocked ice which
lay piled between them and around their margins, were
the only parts of the sea which retained the whiteness
and solidity of winter."
Unfortunately for Hayes, the astronomer of the
expedition, August Sonntag, who had assisted Kane in
the same capacity, was frozen to death on a sledge
journey, and the doctor was left to do the work for
himself, with disappointing results, as with errors of
many miles in either latitude or longitude his journeys
can only be noticed in a very general way. In October,
1860, he proceeded for some distance over the glacier
to the east of his wintering place. The first attempt to
scale the glacier was attended by what might have been
a serious accident. The foremost member of the party
missed his footing as he was clambering up the rude
steps, and, sliding down the steep side, scattered those
who were below him to the right and left and sent them
rolling into the valley beneath. The next effort was
more successful, and, the end of a rope being carried
over the side of the glacier, the sledge was drawn up
the inclined plane and a fair start obtained. A little
further on Hayes was only saved from disappearing
down a crevasse by clutching a pole he was carrying on
his shoulder. Next day, the surface being smoother,
more progress was made, and they reached a plain of
compact snow covered with a crust through which the
to
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THE JOURNEY ON THE GLACIER 243
feet broke at every step. The day afterwards the cold
grew more intense and a gale came on. At night the
men complained bitterly and could not sleep, and as the
storm increased in strength they were forced to leave the
tent and by active exercise prevent themselves from
freezing.
To face the wind was impossible, and shelter was
nowhere to be found upon the unbroken plain, there
being but one direction in which they could move, that
being with their backs to the gale. It was not without
difficulty that the tent was taken down and bundled
upon the sledge, the wind blowing so fiercely that they
could scarcely roll it up with their stiffened hands.
The men were in pain and could only hold on for a few
moments to the hardened canvas, their fingers, freezing
continually, requiring vigorous pounding to keep them
on the flickering verge of life. " In the midst of a vast
frozen Sahara, with neither hill, mountain, nor gorge
anywhere in view," says Hayes, "fitful clouds swept
over the face of the full-orbed moon, which, descending
toward the horizon, glimmered through the drifting
snow that whirled out of the illimitable distance, and
scudded over the icy plain, to the eye in undulating
lines of downy softness, to the flesh in showers of
piercing darts. Our only safety was in flight ; and like
a ship driven before a tempest which she cannot with-
stand, and which has threatened her ruin, we turned
our backs to the gale ; and, hastening down the slope,
we ran to save our lives. We travelled, upwards of
forty miles, and had descended about three thousand
feet before we ventured to halt."
Next year he visited the large glacier in Whale
244 SMITH SOUND
Sound which he named after Professor John Tyndall,
pulling first along its front in a boat and then mounting
its surface. As he rowed along within a few fathoms
of this two miles of ice, he found the face " worn and
wasted away until it seemed like the front of some vast
incongruous temple, here a groined roof of some
huge cathedral, and there a pointed window or a
Norman doorway deeply moulded ; while on all sides
were pillars round and fluted and pendants dripping
crystal drops of the purest water, and all bathed in a
soft blue atmosphere. Above these wondrous archways
and galleries there was still preserved the same Gothic
character ; tall spires and pinnacles rose along the
entire front and multiplied behind them, and new forms
met the eye continually. Strange, there was nothing
cold or forbidding anywhere. The ice seemed to take
the warmth which suffused the air, and I longed to pull
my boat far within the opening and paddle beneath the
Gothic archways."
Charles Francis Hall, of Cincinnati, was a man of a
very different stamp. He was a genius and a genuine
worker, an accurate observer and painstaking explorer
who believed above all things in thoroughness,
llealising that the best way to study the Polar regions
was to understand the Eskimos, who know most about
them, and utilise their local knowledge, he settled
amongst them, lived with them, adopted their customs,
and became as one of them in their huts and tents,
taking part in their sports and hardships. Two friends
he made amongst them, Ebierbing and his wife Took-
oolito, better known as Joe and Hannah, who accom-
panied him till he died.
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CHARLES FRANCIS HALL 245
After clearing up the Frobisher problem and throwing
some light on the Franklin mystery, he started in 1871
to go as far north as he could across the reported Polar
Sea. To him Henry Grinnell, who did so much for
northern discovery, entrusted the American flag which
had been to the Antarctic with Wilkes in 1838, to the
Arctic with De Haven, with Kane and with Hayes,
and was a sort of oriflamme of Polar discovery. His
ship was the Polaris, of 387 tons, once the Periwinkle,
a name which seemed to be a little too unassuming.
Buddington, his sailing-master, was an experienced
whaling captain ; his assistant, Tyson, destined for the
independent command of an ice-floe, was another
whale -fisher. The naturalist was Emil Bessels. On
board were also Joe and Hannah — of course — and
William Morton, to show where the sea was, and,
picked up at Upernivik, the indispensable Hans
Hendrik with his wife and three children.
The voyage was fortunate so long as Hall lived.
The Polaris found the Polar gates open before her.
She steamed right up Smith Sound, through Kane Sea,
up Kennedy Channel, into Robeson Channel — named
after the Secretary to the American Navy — until she
reached the ice, in 82° 16', on the 30th of August, 1871,
the highest latitude then attained by a ship. Hall
would have pressed on into the ice, but Buddington
wisely refused, and hardly had the Polaris been headed
round when she was beset and carried southwards, to
escape in a few days and take refuge for the winter in
a harbour on the east of what is now known as Hall
Basin, protected at its entrance by a grounded floeberg.
The latitude is 81° 38', the harbour Hall called Thank
246 SMITH SOUND
God Bay. There in November he died ; and close by
is Hall's Rest, where he is buried.
His death was the end of the enterprise. Budding-
ton wished to return as soon as the ship was released,
and eventually had his way, after a journey or two of
little importance. But he stayed too long. The ship
was clear in June, and he did not start until the 1st of
August, and he started by driving her into the pack,
anchored her to a floe, and drifted helplessly into
Baffin Bay, as De Haven had done through Lancaster
Sound in 1850. For eleven weeks the drift continued
until she was off Northumberland Island on the 15th
of October. Here in the middle of the night a violent
gale arose, and the crippled ship, nipped between two
masses of ice, was lifted bodily and thrown on her side,
her timbers cracking loudly and her sides apparently
breaking in. Two boats, all she had, were hurriedly
got on to the ice, and provisions, stores, and clothing
were being passed out, when with a roar the floe
broke asunder, and the Polaris disappeared like a
phantom in the gale. As the ice cracked and the
sides lurched apart, a bundle of fur lay across the
fissure. A grab was made at it, and the bundle was
saved. It contained the baby of Joe the Eskimo,
whose wife had been confined the year before in lati-
tude 82°, perhaps the most northerly birthplace of any
of this world's inhabitants.
On the ice were Tyson, with Sergeant Meyer, the
steward, the cook, six sailors, and nine Eskimos, men,
women, and children, including Hans and Joe. They
built a house, from the materials thrown out from the
ship, as a shelter ; and they built snow houses as the time
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THE VOYAGE ON THE FLOE 247
went on and the floe diminished. Provisions they had
but few, but Hans and Joe were indefatigable. They
speared seals, caught fish, trapped birds, and, some-
times, a bear would scramble up on to the ice for them
to shoot — and they never missed. In short, without
them the party would have starved to death.
The floe on which the castaways passed the winter
was about a hundred yards long and seventy-five broad.
On this they voyaged down the whole length of Baffin
Bay and through Davis Strait, the ice melting away
and getting smaller and smaller as they drifted south,
until on the 1st of April, when it was only twenty
yards round, they had to take to the remaining boat,
the other having been used for fuel. Once they nearly
touched the shore, but the wind rose and off they were
driven in the snow. When they were picked up by the
sealer Tigress in 53° 35', near the coast of Labrador, on
the 30th of April, they had drifted fifteen hundred miles
in the hundred and ninety-six days that had elapsed
since they left the ship.
The Polaris, blown to the northward, reached land
at Lifeboat Cove in the entrance to Smith Sound, a
little north of Foulke Harbour, and here with the aid
of the Etah Eskimos the crew passed the winter ; and,
in the spring, some of them went on an expedition in
the Hayes country and lost the famous flag. As the
ship could not be made seaworthy, two flat-bottomed
boats were built of her materials, and on the 21st of
June these were found hauled up on a floe in Melville
Bay, and their people rescued by the whaler Ravcnscraig,
which shifted them into the Arctic, another Dundee
whaler, on board of which was Commander Markham,
248 SMITH SOUND
who, with Hans Hendrik, four years afterwards, was to
follow up Hall's track to the north.
The results of this expedition were of considerable
importance. In five days Captain Hall had run five
hundred miles through what on most occasions has been
found to be an ice-choked sea. He completed the
exploration of Kennedy Channel, discovered Hall
Basin and Robeson Channel, and was the first to reach
the Polar ocean by this route. Greenland and Grinnell
Land he extended northward for nearly a hundred and
forty miles ; and, north of Petermann Fiord, where he
showed that the inland ice terminated, he had found a
large area free from ice, with its wild flowers and
herbage and musk oxen.
Hall's remarkable success in taking a ship to so high
a latitude led to the Government expedition of 1875,
the first British attempt to reach the Pole since Parry's
failure in 1827. Three ships were employed : the Alert,
a seventeen-gun sloop ; the Discovery, once the Blood-
hound, a Dundee whaler ; and the Valorous. The
Alert and Discovery were specially prepared for the
voyage at Portsmouth by Sir Leopold M'Clintock who
was then Admiral Superintendent of the dockyard ;
the Valorous, an old paddle sloop, required little altera-
tion, as her duty was merely to carry the stores that
could not safely be taken by the exploring vessels in
crossing the Atlantic and hand them over at Disco.
The leader, Captain George Strong Nares, when one
of the Franklin search officers under Kellett at Melville
Island, had distinguished himself by a sledge journey
in which he had travelled nine hundred and eighty
miles in sixty -nine days and reached 119^° west
SIR GEORGE NARES
To face page 248
THE NARES EXPEDITION 249
longitude. He was known as one of the best navigators
in the Navy, and when called upon to go to the north
was in command of H.M.S. Challenger, then on her
famous voyage of scientific exploration in very different
seas. With him in the Alert was Commander Albert
Hastings Markham, whose experience, varied and con-
siderable, gained by his spending much of his spare
time within the Arctic Circle, rendered him especially
well fitted for the position. In command of the Dis-
covery was Captain Henry Frederick Stephenson ; and
the officers of both ships were, like the crews, all
specially selected. There was no difficulty in the
manning. One commanding officer called at the office
at Portsmouth where the men were being entered and
asked for advice. " An order," he said, " has come on
board my ship, directing me to send volunteers for
Arctic service to this office. What am I to do ? The
whole ship's company, nearly eight hundred men, have
given in their names."
The three ships left Spithead on the 29th of May,
1875, and were all at Godhavn on the 6th of July.
Nine days afterwards they left for Ritenbenk of the
curious name, which is an anagram of that of Berkentin
who was in charge of the Greenland department when
it was founded. Here the Valorous parted company to
return home after filling up with fuel at the coal
quarries on the north side of Disco Island, while the
two ships went to Proven to pick up Hans Hendrik,
who this time left his wife and children behind him.
Through Smith Sound, almost choked with ice,
progress was slow and difficult ; but the passage was
safely accomplished, and so across Kane Sea and up
250 SMITH SOUND
Kennedy Channel. On Washington Irving Island an
ancient cairn was found, evidently the work of white
men's hands and of great age, as shown by the state of
the lichens on it — yet another of the many indications
in the Polar regions that there was always a somebody
before the first on record. Crossing the mouth of
Archer Fiord, a snug harbour was found in 81° 44',
where the Discovery was left to spend the winter, the
Alert going on, hampered much by the floes, though
helped at last by a south-westerly wind, until she had
to stop in 82° 27' on the shore of the Polar Ocean, at
what was named Floeberg Beach, off an open coast
and with no more protection during the winter than
was afforded by masses of ice ranging up to sixty feet
in height aground in from eight to twelve fathoms of
water.
" The protected space," says Nares, " available for
shelter was so contracted and shallow, the entrance to
it so small, and the united force of the wind and flood-
tide so powerful, that it was with much labour and no
trifling expense in broken hawsers that the ship was
hauled in stern foremost. It was a close race whether
the ice or the ship would be in first, and my anxiety
was much relieved when I saw the ship's bow swing
clear into safety just as the advancing edge of the
heavy pack closed in against the outside of our friendly
barrier of ice. From our position of comparative
security the danger we had so narrowly escaped was
strikingly apparent as we gazed with wonder and awe
at the power exerted by the ice driven past us to the
eastward with irresistible force by the wind and flood-
tide at the rate of about a mile an hour. The pro-
FLOEBERG BEACH 251
jecting points of each passing floe which grounded near
the shore in about ten fathoms of water would be at
once wrenched off from its still moving parent mass ;
the pressure continuing, the several pieces, frequently
thirty thousand tons in weight, would be forced up the
inclined shore, rising slowly and majestically ten or
twelve feet above their old line of flotation. Such
pieces quickly accumulated until a rampart-like barrier
of solid ice-blocks, measuring about two hundred yards
in breadth and rising fifty feet high, lined the shore,
locking us in, but effectually protecting us from the
overwhelming power of the pack." The land had
already assumed a wintry aspect, and the ship soon
put on a garb of snow and ice, each spar and rope
being double its ordinary thickness from the accumula-
tion of rime. Around her everything was white and
solemn ; no voice of bird or beast was heard ; all was
still and silent save the gathering floes ; and in two
days the men were able to walk on shore over the new
ice.
For eleven months she stayed here, secured by cables
to anchors frozen on to the shore to protect her from
gales on the landward side. With the ship housed in
awnings of tilt-cloth, with snow a foot thick laid on
the upper deck and banked up on each side as high as
the main-chains, with skylights and hatchways carefully
covered up, except two hatchways for ingress and
egress constructed with porches and double doors so as
to prevent the entrance of the bitter air, the crew here
passed the long Polar night. On the llth of October
the sun disappeared, and then began those entertain-
ments, lectures, lessons, games, not forgetting the
252 SMITH SOUND
Royal Arctic Theatre which opened on the 18th of
November, with which the winter was pleasantly whiled
away. " Can you sing or dance ? or what can you do
for the amusement of others ? " every man had been
asked before he was chosen, and the result was a
singularly happy time kept up until sunrise.
The cold was intense and long-continued. Even the
tobacco pipes froze, the stem becoming solidly clogged
with ice as the smoking went on unless it was made so
short as to bring the bowl unpleasantly close to the
mouth. On the 1st of April the temperature was
down to minus 64°, and three days afterwards it was
a hundred and five below freezing, the cold weather
preventing the departure of the dog-sledge for Dis-
covery Bay.
During the autumn, sledging parties had laid out
reserves of stores for the spring journeys, and a certain
amount of practice had been given to the men in what
was intended to be the chief work of the expedition.
The field, however, was not promising. On one occa-
sion Nares went out to look at it. He obtained a fine
view of the pack for a distance of six miles from the
land. The southern side of each purely white snow-
covered hummock was brilliantly lighted by the orange-
tinted twilight. The stranded floebergs lining the
shore extended from half to three-quarters of a mile off
the land. Outside were old floes with undulating
upper surfaces separated from each other by Sherard
Osborn's "hedgerows of Arctic landscape," otherwise
ridges of pressed-up ice of every size. " It will be as
difficult," was his verdict, " to drag a sledge over such
ice as to transport a carriage directly across country in
THE SLEDGES AND THEIR BURDEN 253
England." He gave a lecture on sledging at one of the
winter entertainments. It was interesting but not en-
couraging. He told his hearers that if they could
imagine the hardest work they had ever been called
upon to perform in their lives intensified to the utmost
degree, it would only be as child's play in comparison
with the work they would have to perform whilst
sledging. "These prophetic words," says Markham,
" were fully realised, and were often recalled and com-
mented on by the men."
They had four different kinds of sledges. From the
illustrations it will appear how the eight-feet sledges
differed from those used by M'Clintock, the Nares
sledge being higher and more slender in the uprights.
The eight-men sledge, such as the Marco Polo— which
was bound for the Pole — had six uprights eighteen
inches apart. It was eleven feet long, thirty-eight
inches wide, eleven inches high, and weighed one
hundred and thirty pounds. The tent, made of light,
unbleached duck, was nine feet four inches long at the
bottom, eight feet at the top, seven feet wide and high,
and weighed forty-four pounds. The tent poles, five
in number, weighed five pounds apiece. The coverlet
weighed thirty-one pounds and a half, and the extra
coverlet twenty pounds. The lower robe weighed
twenty-three pounds, the waterproof floor-cloth fifteen.
The eight sleeping-bags weighed eight pounds apiece,
and the eight knapsacks, when packed, twelve pounds
apiece. The shovel and two pickaxes accounted for
twenty-one pounds, the store-bag for twenty-five, the
cooking gear for twenty-nine, the gun and ammunition
for twenty-five, the medical stores for twelve, the
254 SMITH SOUND
instruments for fifteen, and the tent for nine and a
quarter. To this must be added a thousand and eighty
pounds for forty-five days' provisions for the eight men,
and we have the total of sixteen hundred and sixty-
four pounds odd, which with seven men at the ropes
gives each man a drag of about two hundred and
thirty-eight pounds. In the spring the weight de-
creases as the provisions are consumed, but the rate of
decrease is not the same in the autumn, for then the
steadily falling temperature increases the weight of the
outfit by the moisture it adds to the tent and clothing.
In Markham's autumn journey the tent of thirty-two
pounds came back as fifty-five, the coverlet as forty-
eight, the lower robe as forty, the floor-cloth as forty,
and everything else was heavier than at the start.
The sledges mustered for their journeys on the 3rd of
April. Seven in number, they were drawn up in single
line according to the seniority of the leaders, all fully
equipped and provisioned, and manned by fifty-three
officers and men. On each was its commander's banner
— a swallow-tailed flag charged with a St. George's
cross and displaying the armorial bearings. As a pre-
caution against snow-blindness, the men had been
ordered to decorate the backs of their snow-jumpers
with any device they thought fit, the result being a dis-
play of comic blazonry that often formed a topic of
conversation when others failed. For the same reason
the two boats carried on the north-going sledges were
gaily decorated with the royal arms, and the rose,
shamrock, and thistle ; the artist, as on other occasions,
being Doctor Moss, whose great difficulty in the matter
was that in spite of the quantity of turpentine used in
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MARKHAM AND PARR 255
mixing the paint it would persist in freezing so that the
brush became as stiff as a stick every few seconds.
Lieutenant Aldrich, supported for three weeks by
Lieutenant Giffard, was to explore the shores of Grant
Land, towards the north and west, along the coast-line
he had discovered in the previous autumn. Commander
Markham, seconded by Lieutenant Parr, was to accom-
pany Aldrich to Cape Joseph Henry and then strike off
to the northward over the ice. The other three sledges
were to accompany these as far as their own provisions
would allow, after completing the four's deficiencies and
giving them a fresh start from an advance post.
When Markham was only eleven days out, one of his
crew complained of pain in his ankles and knees, and
was of no help for the rest of the journey. This was
the first appearance of the scurvy which was to ruin so
many hopes, for man after man was taken ill and
became a passenger. To make matters worse no
rougher road was ever traversed by sledge. Over a
labyrinth of piled-up blocks of ice ranging to forty feet
and more in height, through which the road had to be
cut with pickaxe and shovel, and amid gale and fog and
falling snow, the painful progress went on. With many
a " One ; two ; three ; haul ! " the heavy mass would be
dragged where the men could hardly drag themselves ;
one of the sledges taken a few yards by the combined
crews, who would then return for the other. On the
19th of April one of the boats was abandoned and this
made matters easier, but only for a time, as the disease
spread. Ai last it was decided to stop ; and on the
12th of May a party of ten went ahead to reach the
farthest north.
256 SMITH SOUND
" The walking," says Markham, " was undoubtedly
severe, at one moment struggling through deep snow-
drifts, in which we floundered up to our waists, and at
another tumbling about amongst the hummocks.
Some idea may be formed of the difficulties of the
road, when, after more than two hours' hard walking,
with little or nothing to carry, we had barely accom-
plished one mile. Shortly before noon a halt was
called, the artificial horizon set up, and the flags and
sledge standards displayed. Fortunately the sun was
favourable to us, and we were able to obtain a good
altitude as it passed the meridian, although almost
immediately afterwards dark clouds rolled up, snow
began to fall, and the sun was lost in obscurity. We
found the latitude to be 83° 20' 26" N., or three
hundred and ninety-nine miles and a half from the
North Pole."
On the 8th of June Lieutenant Parr appeared on
the quarter-deck of the Alert greeting in silence the
one or two who chanced to meet him. That some
calamity had happened was evident from his looks.
He had walked on alone for forty miles to bring the
news that Markham's party were in sore distress.
Measures of rescue were instantly taken ; Lieutenant
May and Doctor Moss, on snow-shoes, pushing ahead
with the dog-sledge laden with medical stores, while
Nares with a strong party followed. On their arrival
one man had died, and of the others no less than
eleven were brought back to the ship on the relief
sledges.
Ten days afterwards, fearing a similar fate had over-
taken Aldrich's party, Lieutenant May was despatched
ALDRICH AND BEAUMONT 257
to find him. As with Markham, scurvy had begun on
the outward journey, and it had become so bad on the
return that one of the men was being sent off to the
ship when May arrived with help. It had nevertheless
been a successful journey, the road being easier than that
by the northern route. Aldrich had traced the continu-
ous border of the heavy pack for two hundred miles from
Floeberg Beach, rounded Cape Columbia, in 83° 1' N.,
the northernmost point of Grant Land, and, along the
coast trending steadily south-west, had reached longi-
tude 85° 33' and sighted Cape Alfred Ernest in
longitude 86 J°.
With his arrival there were over forty scurvy patients
on board the Alert ; and Nares was to learn that the
sledge parties from the Discovery had been similarly
affected. Lieutenant Beaumont had gone along the
North Greenland coast, reaching, on the 21st of May,
51° W., in 82° 20' N., and sighting Cape May, Mount
Hooker, and Cape Britannia. On the 10th of May,
while on his outward journey, he had sent back Lieu-
tenant Rawson to bring a relief party to meet him, and
Rawson with Hans and eight dogs, accompanied by
Doctor Coppinger, reached him on the 25th of June
when he was on his last possible day's journey, he and
two of his men dragging the sledge with four helpless
comrades lashed on the top of it.
The Discovery had also sent out Lieutenant Archer
to survey the fiord named after him, which opens out
into Lady Franklin Bay; and Lieutenant Fulford had
crossed the channel and explored Petermann Fiord.
In fact, the expedition's geographical work was of great
extent, as was the other scientific work, the most im-
258 SMITH SOUND
portant, as usual, being that done from the ships.
Among the odds and ends easily rememberable was the
haul of the seine in Sheridan Lake, near the wintering
station of the Alert, which yielded forty-three char
(Salmo arcturus], the most northerly freshwater fish;
the finding of the nest of the sanderling (Calidris
arenarius), now in the Natural History Museum, in
82° 33', and the discovery of the nesting of the grey
phalarope and the knot in the same neighbourhood ;
the thirty-feet seam of Miocene coal worked in Dis-
covery Harbour ; and the Eskimo relics at Cape
Beechey, near the eighty-second parallel, which, in
connection with the encampments on the opposite
coast, suggested that there, at the narrowest part of
Robeson Channel, had been a crossing place from shore
to shore.
On the 31st of July, 1876, the Alert was again under
steam after her long rest, and one of the most dangerous
voyages on record began. The ships, of from five
hundred to six hundred tons, were handled as if they
were small tugs ; blocked, beset, pressed on shore,
Nares with consummate skill, constant watchfulness,
and never-failing patience, brought them through. But
they did not get out of Smith Sound until the 9th of
September, and then it was against head winds in
stormy weather amid icebergs innumerable that they
were slowly worked southwards and homewards.
BISHOP PAUL EGEDE
To face page 258
CHAPTER XIII
GREENLAND
Hans Egede — The house of Eric the Red— Nansen'a crossing of Greenland —
Nausen and Sverdrup row to Ny Herrnhut — Nordenskiold's journeys —
Berggren's discovery — Nordenskiold on the inland ice — Glaciers and ice-
bergs— Diatoms and whales — Edward Whyrnper's expedition — Greenland
in Miocene times — Graah — Scoresby — Ryder — The Germania and llanm
— The Duke of Orleans — The Eskimos of Clavering Island — Franz Josef
Fiord — The drift of the Hansa — The Greely expedition — The International
Polar stations — Voyage of the Proteus — Lockwood reaches 83° 24' — Greely's
wagon — The Eskimo house at Lake Hazen — Greely Relief expeditions—-
The rescue of Greely — Peary — His journey to Independence Hay — His
four years' expedition — Reaches 84° 17' — His Polar expedition of 1905—
The Roosevelt — The voyage to Cape Sheridan — Plan of the northern ad-
vance— Peary reaches 87° 6' — Moxon's mariner.
HANS EGEDE, aged twenty-two, priest of the
parish of Vaagen, in the north of Norway,
reading, in 1710, about the Norse colonists of the west
— and apparently knowing nothing of Thiodhilda —
was led to think that some of their descendants might
still be living in heathenism. Writing to the Bishop
of Trondhjem, he proposed to go out to these as a
missionary. The good father rather astonished him by
the reply that " Greenland was undoubtedly part of
America, and could not be very far from Cuba and
Hispaniola, where there was found such abundance of
gold," and, as those who went to Greenland might
bring home " incredible riches," he approved of the
suggestion.
259
260 GREENLAND
Unfortunately, however, Egede had written his letter
without the knowledge of his wife, who by no means
thought with the Bishop until seven years afterwards,
when she changed her mind. Trying in vain locally,
Egede applied for support to Frederick IV of Denmark,
who finding him an earnest, honest, interesting man,
gave him his patronage, the result being that a com-
pany was formed at Bergen for the development of
trade and the propagation of the gospel ; and, on the
3rd of May, 1721, the Hope set sail from there for
Greenland with forty-six intending colonists, including
the missionary and his wife and family.
His landing-place was on an island at the mouth
of Godthaab Fiord, or Baal's River. He found the
Greenlanders very different from what he had sup-
posed ; and also that the Dutch were carrying on a
profitable trade with them and keeping it quiet. To
begin with they were nothing like Vikings in appear-
ance ; and their language, instead of being a Scandi-
navian dialect, was of the same character as that of
the Eskimos of Labrador — and not at all easy to learn.
Learn it, however, he and his family did ; and among
the Greenlanders they remained and laboured with
truly admirable energy and devotion, battling hard for
life amid much disaster until, with the help of his
son Paul, who succeeded him as superintendent of the
mission with the title of bishop, the settlement became
permanent, and other settlements arose from it up the
western coast as they are found to-day.
Though there were no Norsemen, there were many
traces of them, the most interesting being the house of
Eric the Red, near Igaliko. Here, close to Erik's
From ci fhoto iv Dr. H. Rink
GREENLANDERS
To face page 260
THE HOUSE OF ERIC THE RED 261
Fiord and overlooking Einar's Fiord, on one of the
prettiest sites in Greenland, was Brattelid — " the steep
side of a rock " — one side of it a natural cliff, the walls
of the other sides, more than four feet thick, built of
blocks of red sandstone from four to six feet in length
as well as in breadth and thickness, reminding the
visitor of those of Stonehenge, and evoking similar
wonderment as to how they were got into place. And
in his first colony, now called Igdluernerit, Egede
seems to have followed the Norsemen — at an interval —
in their architecture, to judge by the large stones in
the walls of his house, which, like Eric's, is now in
ruins.
Twelve years after Egede, came the Moravians to
take up their quarters at Ny Herrnhut, also at the
mouth of Godthaab (that is, Good Hope) Fiord. It
was here that Nansen and Sverdrup landed in October,
1888, having rowed up from Ameralik Fiord in their
" half a boat," as the Eskimos called it.
" Are you Englishmen ? " they were asked.
" No," said Nansen, in good Norse, " we are Nor-
wegians."
" May I ask your name ? "
" My name is Nansen and we have just come from
the interior."
" Oh, allow me to congratulate you on taking your
doctor's degree ! "
From which it is clear that Godthaab is not so much
out of the world as one would suppose.
Nansen with his three Norsemen and two Lapps had
reached the east coast in the Jason, and on the 17th of
July had left the ship in their boats to make their way
262 GREENLAND
to the shore ; but they had been caught in the floes,
and on them and among them they had drifted for
twelve days — an experience they had not bargained for.
Getting ashore at last near Cape Tordenskiold, they
worked their way back northwards along the coast,
spending a short time at an Eskimo encampment at
Cape Bille, until on the 15th of August they hauled
their two boats up near Umivik and started to cross
Greenland over the inland ice.
The country is now in its glacial period, and for days
they toiled across its glacial desert; each day alike in its
wearisome monotony. " Flatness and whiteness were
the two features of this ocean of snow," says Nansen;
"in the day we could see three things only, the sun,
the snowfield and ourselves. We looked like a diminu-
tive black line feebly traced upon an infinite expanse of
white. There was no break or change in our horizon,
no object to rest the eye upon, and no point by which to
direct the course. We had to steer by a diligent use of
the compass, and keep our line as well as possible by
careful watching of the sun and repeated glances back
at the four men following and the long track which the
caravan left in the snow. We passed from one horizon
to another, but our advance brought us no change."
By the 2nd of September they had all taken to their
skis on which they made great progress alone, but when
it came to hauling the sledges there was a difference.
Sometimes the snow proved to be very heavy going,
particularly when it was wind-packed, and then it was
no better than sand. One entry in Nansen's journal
will suffice : " It began to snow in the middle of the
day, and our work was heavier than ever. It was worse
ON LEVEL GROUND
To face page 262
NANSEN CROSSES GREENLAND 263
even than yesterday, and to say it was like hauling in
blue clay will scarcely give an idea of it. At every
step we had to use all our force to get the heavy
sledges along, and in the evening Sverdrup and I, who
had to go first and plough a way for ourselves, were
pretty well done up."
When at last the wind became favourable they
hoisted sail, and off they went over the waves and drifts
of snow at a speed that almost took their breath away;
and when they reached the western slopes they slid
down them using the sledges as toboggans. At first
they had intended making for Christianshaab, but the
route had to be changed for that to Godthaab, and
the sea was reached some distance to the south. Here
they stitched the floor-sheet of their tent over a frame-
work of withies, and with oars made of canvas stretched
across forked willows and tied to bamboo shafts,
Nansen and Sverdrup boldly trusted themselves to the
waves and with much hard labour pulled into Ny
Herrnhut on the 3rd of October. Such was the first
crossing of Greenland, a really remarkable instance of
daring endeavour.
Further north, Nordenskiold, in 1883, had attempted
to cross over the ice-cap from near Disco on the west
coast, but, hindered and finally stopped by crevasses
and other obstacles, could do no more than send
his Lapps to try their best on their skis, and
they returned after their journey eastwards of a
hundred and forty miles reporting similar monotonous
conditions all along their track. Thirteen years
before, he had, also from Auleitsivik Fiord, started out
with Berggren ; and deserted by their followers, they
264 GREENLAND
had gone on by themselves for some thirty miles east
of the northern arm of the fiord. It was on this occa-
sion that Berggren discovered Ancylonema, that small
polycellular alga forming the dark masses that absorb a
far greater amount of heat than the white ice and thus
cause the deep holes that aid in the process of melting.
" The same plant," says Nordenskiold, " has no doubt
played the same part in our country ; and we have to
thank it, perhaps, that the deserts of ice which
formerly covered the whole of Northern Europe and
America have now given place to shady woods and
undulating cornfields."
Nordenskiold looked upon Greenland and its icefield
as a broad-lipped, shallow vessel with chinks in the lip,
the glacier being viscous matter within it. As more is
poured in, the matter runs over the edges, taking the
lines of the chinks, that is, of the fiords and valleys, as
that of its outflow. In other words, the ice floats out
by force of the superincumbent weight of snow just as
does the grain on the floor of a barn when another
sackful is shot on to the top of the heap already there.
When the glacier reaches the sea it makes its way along
the bottom under water for a considerable distance, in
some cases, as near Avigait, for more than a mile. This
is where the water is too shallow for it to affect the
mass, which forms a breakwater ; though as a rule the
shore deepens more suddenly and the projection is less.
It was long supposed that the berg broke from the
glacier by force of gravity, but this is not generally so.
The berg is forced off from the parent glacier by the
buoyant action of the sea from beneath ; the ice groans
and creaks ; then there is a crashing, then a roar like
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DIATOMS AND WHALES 265
the discharge of artillery ; and with a great regurgitation
of the waves the iceberg is launched into life. These
huge floating islands of ice are the most conspicuous
exports of Greenland ; and their true magnitude is not
realised until it is remembered that only about an
eighth of their bulk appears above the water. Bergs as
large as liners we frequently hear of — one such is shown
in our illustration — but sometimes they are of much
greater freeboard, though the very large ones reported
as extending along the horizon are invariably groups of
several crowded together.
Ancylonema has evidently plenty to do. Another
instance of the important part played by the insignificant
in these regions is suggested by the colour of the sea.
This varies from ultramarine blue to olive-green, from
the purest transparency to striking opacity ; and the
changes are not transitory but permanent. These
patches of dark water abound with diatoms, while the
bluer the water the fewer are the diatoms ; and where
they are most numerous, there the animals that feed on
them assemble in their greatest numbers. And these
animals are jellyfish, entomostracans, and, to a greater
extent, pteropods, their chief representative being Clio
horcalis. In short, the animals that feed on the diatoms
are food of the Greenland whale, and where the waters
are dark the whale-fishers thrive. " I know nothing
stranger than the curious tale I have unfolded," says
Dr. Robert Brown, who worked out this remarkable
chain, " the diatom staining the broad frozen sea, again
supporting myriads of living beings which crowd there
to feed on it, and these again supporting the huge
whale. Thus it is no stretch of the imagination to say
266 GREENLAND
that the greatest animal depends for its existence on a
being so minute that it takes thousands to be massed
together before they are visible to the naked eye."
Cold as Greenland is, there was a time when matters
were different. In token of this we have the Miocene
fossils collected by Edward Whymper during his
expedition from near Jakobshavn in 1867, which were
described and illustrated by Oswald Heer in the Philo-
sophical Transactions for 1869. A look at these is a
welcome relief after such a surfeit of ice. Here, as
well preserved as in the leaf beds of Alum Bay, are
the leaves and fruits of an unmistakable temperate flora.
Magnolias, maples, poplars, limes, walnuts, water-lilies;
myrica, smilax, aralia ; sedges and grasses, conifers and
ferns : these at the least were all growing in Greenland
in its Miocene age. And even a thousand years ago
the climate must have been milder than now, to judge
by the farming reports of the colonists who seem to
have been quite at home along the coast, which, with
its innumerable islands and fiords, is as intricate as that
of Norway.
Searching for the ancient eastern settlement of the
Norsemen, W. A. Graah, in 1829, wintered at
Julianehaab, which in all likelihood is the site, although
he knew it not. Possessed with the idea that it must
be on the south-eastern coast, he devoted his attention
to that region only, finding Eskimos who had never
seen a white man and starting a trading intercourse
which led to most of them migrating to the less incle-
ment west. His work linked up with that of Scoresby,
who in 1822 charted the main features of the sea-front
from 69° to 75°. Ryder, seventy years afterwards, filled
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KOLDEWEY'S EXPEDITION 267
in the details of much of Scoresby's work, and found
Eskimos further north, as Clavering had done in 1823,
when in the Griper during Sabine's observations at
Pendulum Island.
It was to Pendulum Island, in 74° 32', that Karl
Koldewey, after his preliminary run to 81° 5' in 1868,
took the Germania to winter during the German ex-
pedition of 1869. The two vessels, the Germania, a
small two-masted screw steamer of one hundred and
forty-three tons, built specially for Arctic service,
and the Hansa, only half her size, which had been
strengthened for the voyage, reached Jan Mayen on
the 9th of July, and, hidden from each other by fog,
sailed northwards for five days. On the fifth evening
the wind rose, the fog cleared, and a hundred yards in
front of them lay the ice like a rugged line of cliffs.
For a few days they sailed along it endeavouring to
find an opening to the north. Then, on the 20th, the
Germania ran up a signal to approach and communi-
cate, which was misunderstood, and, instead of repeat-
ing it and making sure, the Hansa put up her helm,
fell off, crowded on all sail, and disappeared in the fog.
Koldewey, persisting in his efforts to get through the
pack, found an opening on the 1st of August. Nine
days afterwards he was again blocked, and finally, on
the 27th, he reached Pendulum Island, where he made
the Germania snug for the winter, which proved to be
remarkably mild.
The first sledge party travelling up one of the fiords
met with abundant vegetation and herds of reindeer
and musk oxen, and were visited by bears who had not
learnt to be wary of man ; and when the bears came
268 GREENLAND
back with the sun in February they were as trouble-
some as those of Ice Haven to the Dutchmen. Several
sledge parties went out in the spring, and, notwith-
standing inadequate equipment, did excellent work.
In April, 1870, Koldewey reached 77° 1', almost up to
Lambert Land, otherwise the Land of Edam. Here,
looking out over the ice-belt, they agreed that it was
"a bulwark built for eternity," and hoisting sails on
their sledges they ran back to the ship. But in 1905
the Duke of Orleans arrived on the coast to reach
78° 16' and discover that their Cape Bismarck was on
an island and their Dove Bay a strait.
In the neighbourhood of their winter quarters the
glaciers and mountains were well explored, and an
attempt was made to measure an arc of the meridian,
which proved to be rather rough work among such
surroundings. The snowstorms were particularly piti-
less and heavy, and the travelling decidedly bad. The
thaw began about the middle of May, and there was
more sledging through pools than usual, so that they
did not want variety in their occupations. On the
14th of July boating became practicable, and a voyage
was made to the Eskimo village found by Clavering
in 1823, on the island named after him, but the village
proved to be deserted and the huts in ruins — an un-
welcome discovery, for, as M'Clintock says in reference
to it : "It is not less strange than sad to find that a
peaceable and once numerous tribe, inhabiting a coast-
line of at least seven degrees of latitude, has died out,
or has almost died out, whilst at the same time we find,
by the diminution of the glaciers and increase of animal
life, that the terrible severity of the climate has under-
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FRANZ JOSEF FIORD 269
gone considerable modification. We feel this sadden-
ing interest with greater force when we reflect that the
distance of Clavering's village from the coast of Scot-
land is under one thousand miles. They were our
nearest neighbours of the New World."
A little north of the seventy-third parallel Koldewey
discovered on his way home the magnificent Franz Josef
Fiord. Here the grandest scenery in Greenland is to
be found along its deep branches winding among the
mountains, one of which, Mount Petermann, is over
eleven thousand feet high. As the Germania entered
this remarkable inlet, which extends inland for some five
degrees of longitude, a fleet of icebergs were sailing out
of it with the current ; the farther she advanced the
warmer seemed the temperature of the air and surface
water, and the wilder and more impressive became the
grouping of the mighty cliffs and peaks with their lofty
waterfalls and raging torrents and deep glacier-filled
ravines. It was the great geographical discovery of the
expedition.
Meanwhile Hegemann, trying to pass to the north
more to the westward, got the Hansa beset on the 9th
of September some twenty-four miles from Foster Bay.
As the ice-pressure threatened to become too great for
the vessel to resist, an elaborate house was planned and
built on the floe. Briquettes were used for the walls,
the joints were filled up with dry snow on which water
was poured, and in ten minutes it hardened into a com-
pact mass. The house was twenty feet long, fourteen
feet wide, and four feet eight inches high at the sides,
with a rising roof consisting of sails and mats covered
with deep snow. Into this house, which took a week
270 GREENLAND
to build, provisions for two months were carried,
besides wood and fuel. The boats were put out, a
flagstaff was set up, and quite a little settlement was
started on the ice ; and no sooner was it completed than
a violent snowstorm, lasting for five days, buried both
the ship and the house. The ice increased around, and,
the pressure of the accumulation lifting the Hansa
seventeen feet above her original level, everything of
value was removed from her on to the ice and into the
house. On the 22nd of October she sank, having
drifted below the seventy-first parallel ; and all through
the winter the floe, which was about two miles across,
leisurely made its way to the south.
Off Knighton Bay Christmas was kept with all
possible honour. The briquette house was decorated
with coloured-paper festoons, and, by the light of the
sole remaining wax candle, the genial Germans made
themselves merry around a stubby Christmas tree
devised out of an old birch broom. Three weeks after-
wards the floe cracked beneath the dwelling. There
was barely time to take refuge, but all hands were
saved in the boats. For two days they remained in them,
poorly sheltered from the storm and unable to clear out
the snow. Then a smaller house was built of the ruins
of the old one, but it was only large enough for half
the party ; and as the spring advanced the floe de-
creased, breaking away at the edges as did that on
which the Polaris people drifted to Labrador.
At the end of March it entered Nukarbik Bay and
there it stayed four weeks, caught in an eddy, slowly
moving round and round just far enough from the
shore to render an attempt at escape impossible ; twice
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HEGEMANN'S DRIFT 271
a day they went in with the tide and out with the tide, the
ice too bad for the boats and never promising enough
for a dash to the land. Having become thoroughly
acquainted with this portion of the coast with its bold
range of hills, its deep bays, its inlets, headlands, and
islands, a storm came on which cleared them out of the
eddy and drove them further south. Three weeks after
that the floe had become so diminished by the lashing
of the surge that it was hardly a hundred yards across,
and large fragments were slipping off every hour.
They had been on it for two hundred days and
drifted eleven hundred miles when, on the 7th of May,
water-lanes opening shorewards, they took to the boats
and ventured among the masses of ice, making for the
south. At first they had their difficulties in being
compelled to haul up on the floes to pass the night or
wait for a favourable wind, which meant severe work in
unloading and reloading. Once during their painful
progress of more than a month they were kept on a
floe for six days by gales and snow-showers. Finally,
after a long desperate effort, they reached Illuilek
Island, and thence proceeded close inshore among rocks
and ice to Frederiksdal, a couple of hours' walk from
the southernmost point of the Greenland mainland,
Cape Farewell being part of an island twenty-eight
miles further to the south-east. On the 21st of June,
eight days afterwards, they were at Julianehaab, whence
they sailed to be landed at Copenhagen on the 1st of
September, just ten days before the G-ermama steamed
into Bremen. Thus the expedition, by its two divisions,
ice-borne and ship-borne, had skirted nearly all that
was then known of the east coast from end to end.
THE INTERNATIONAL STATIONS 273
been of very little practical use owing to the necessarily
light equipment. Instead, therefore, of a number of
isolated attempts at irregular intervals, Weyprecht
suggested that the better way would be to attack the
subject systematically by a group of expeditions at
permanent stations working together long enough at
the same time for their observations to be dealt with as
part of a general scheme ; and the suggestion was
approved although he did not live long enough to see
the stations occupied.
Three International Polar Conferences were held, in
1879 and the two following years, at Hamburg, Berne,
and St. Petersburg, at the last of which it was arranged
that the stations should be fourteen in number, two in
the south and twelve in the north, these ^twelve being
— (1) The Austrian at Jan Mayen ; (2) the Danish at
Godthaab ; (3) the Finnish at Sodankyla in Uleaborg ;
(4) the German at Kingua in Cumberland Sound ;
(5) the British at Fort Rae on the northern arm of the
Great Slave Lake ; (6) the Dutch at Dickson Harbour
at the mouth of the Yenesei ; (7) the Norwegian at
Bosekop at the head of Alten Fiord ; (8) the Russian at
Little Karmakul Bay in Novaya Zemlya ; (9) the second
Russian on Sagastyr Island in the Lena Delta ; (10) the
Swedish at Mossel Bay in Spitsbergen; (11) the
American at Point Barrow under Lieutenant P. H.
Ray, who met with marked success and brought his
men all home in safety ; and (12) the second American
at Lady Franklin Bay, the winter quarters of H.M.S.
Discovwy, which Greely renamed Fort Conger.
In direct opposition to the guiding idea of the
scheme, Greely 's work was complicated by having
274 GREENLAND
tacked on to it Howgate's proposal of another dash for
the Pole, his instructions requiring him to send out
" sledging parties in the interests of exploration and
discovery." Further, his expedition was fitted out in
a way that almost invited disaster. Let one instance
suffice. " In speaking of this instrument," he explains,
" it is necessary to say that a dip-circle was especially
made for the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, but it
was by error shipped to the United States Coast Sur-
vey. On calling for it, when the duplicate instrument
ordered could not be had in time, the late Mr. Carlisle
Patterson, then Superintendent, promptly promised that
it should be sent on to me at New York. On the day
of my sailing, a dip-circle, carefully boxed, was received ;
but on opening it at St. John, an old, rusty, unreliable
instrument was found in the place of the new circle.
This resulted in unsatisfactory and incomplete observa-
tions at Conger, for the old circle having upright
standards instead of transverse ones, as in the new, but
one end of the needle could be read. It must always
be a matter of regret that this unwarrantable and un-
authorised substitution by some person was made, which
materially impaired, if not effectually destroyed, the
value of our two-years' dip-observations." This sort of
thing reduced International Polar Research to a farce,
and the same spirit appeared in other departments,
more seriously than all in the relief proceedings, which
were conducted in a way that could only lead to starva-
tion.
In August, 1881, the Proteus, with the expedition
on board, made her way up Smith Sound and Kennedy
Channel without serious hindrance until she entered
LOCKWOOD'S JOURNEY 275
the south-eastern part of Lady Franklin Bay, where
the close, heavy pack brought her to a stop within
eight miles of her destination. She had come seven
hundred miles from Upernivik in less than a week, and,
faced by ice twenty to fifty feet thick, she had to wait
another seven days before she got into Discovery
Harbour. Here the party landed and a house was
built, and dissension arose which ended in one of the
company returning in the ship and another endeavouring
to do so and being too late, so that he had to remain as
a sort of tolerated volunteer. Two others were sent
away as being physically unfit ; but, making up for
these, were two Eskimos engaged at Upernivik.
Preliminary sledging began at once, and in the spring
the two great efforts were made. The doctor's, towards
the Pole, left on the 19th of March and got adrift on
a floe from which the party escaped with the loss of
their tent, provisions, and some of their instruments.
According to Greely's report : " The farthest latitude
attained by this party is given by Dr. Pavy as 82° 50',
it being estimated, as no observations for time, magnetic
declination, or latitude were made at any period during
his absence."
On the 3rd of April, Lockwood with twelve men
left for the coast of Greenland. Up to Newman Bay
four men had been sent back as unfit for field-work.
On the 16th, when the party started from here for the
north-east, Lockwood and Christiansen, the Eskimo,
were in advance hauling about eight hundred pounds
with a team of eight dogs, a three-men sledge follow-
ing, and then two two-men sledges ; at Cape Bryant
the men-sledges were sent back, and Lockwood,
276 GREENLAND
Brainard, and the Eskimo went on with the dog-sledge.
Cape Britannia was reached on the 5th of May, and
on the 13th they camped at Lock wood Island, and
there, for the first time, Americans reached a farthest
north.
" I decided to make this cape my farthest," reported
Lockwood, "and to devote the little time we could
stay to determining accurately my position, if the
weather would allow, which seemed doubtful. We
built a large, conspicuous cairn, about six feet high
and the same width at the base, on the lower of two
benches. After repitching the tent Sergeant Brainard
and I returned to the cairn, and collected in that
vicinity specimens of the rocks and vegetation of the
country, the sergeant making almost all the collection.
We ascended without difficulty to a small fringe of
rocks, which seemed from below to form the top. The
ascent, at first very gradual, became steeper as we went
up, but we had no difficulty, as for some distance below
the summit the surface is covered with small stones,
as uniform in size, position, etc., as those of a macadam-
ised road. Reached the top at 3.45 p.m. and unfurled
the American flag (Mrs. Greely's) to the breeze in
latitude 83° 24' N. (according to last observation). The
summit is a small plateau, narrow, but extending back
to the south to broken, snow-covered heights. It com-
manded a very extended view in every direction. The
barometer, being out of order, was not brought along,
so I did not get the altitude. The horizon on the land
side was concealed by numberless snow-covered moun-
tains, one profile overlapping another, and all so merged
together, on account of their universal covering of
GREELY'S WAGON 277
snow, that it was impossible to detect the topography
of the region. To the north lay an unbroken expanse
of ice, interrupted only by the horizon."
On Midsummer Day Greely started with a four-
wheel wagon to explore Grinnell Land. The wagon,
in the men's vernacular, was a man-killer, and was
abandoned after they had dragged it a hundred miles.
On this journey much exploring work was done in the
unknown country, the most interesting find being that
of the Eskimo house at Lake Hazen. In this, accord-
ing to Greely 's description, there were two fireplaces,
one in the east and the other in the south, both of
which had been built outward so as to take up no part
of the space of the room, which was over seventeen
feet long and nine feet wide. The sides of the entire
dwelling were low walls of sodded earth, lined inside
with flat thin slates, the tops of which were about two
feet above the level of the interior floor, and the bench
was covered with flat slabs of slate. Near by was a smaller
house of the same character, and around were a large
number of relics, including walrus-ivory toggles for
dog -traces, sledge-bars and runners, an arrow head,
skinning knife, and articles of worked bone. Next
year further explorations of the back country were
undertaken, so that some six thousand miles of the
interior were viewed, disclosing many fertile valleys
with their herds of musk ox.
Meanwhile the Neptune, with supplies for Fort
Conger, had in August, 1882, been vainly endeavouring
to get north, and, a few miles from Cape Hawks, had
turned back with the pack piling the ice as high as her
rail. Six attempts she made before she gave up and
278 GREENLAND
retreated, after making several deposits of stores at
Cape Sabine and elsewhere. In July, 1883, the Proteus,
making a similar attempt to reach Greely, was crushed
in the ice off Cape Albert, her side opening with a
crash while the men were working in the hold, the ice
forcing its way into the coal-bunkers and then pouring
in so that as soon as the pressure slackened she went
down, escape to the south being effected in the boats.
Next year, matters having become serious, a naval
expedition consisting of the Thetis, the Bear, and
Nares's old ship the Alert, presented by the British
Government, was placed in the capable hands of
Commander Winfield Schley, who had with him George
Melville of Jcannette fame as engineer of the Thetis,
and matters were conducted in quite a different way
under much more favourable circumstances. Schley
intended to find Greely, at all costs, and he did so.
First he found a cairn at Brevoort Island, in which
were the papers deposited by Greely relating how he
had had to come south owing to shortness of supplies,
and how his party were then — 21st of October, 1883-
encamped on the west side of a small neck of land
distant about equally from Cape Sabine and Cocked
Hat Island.
As it was then the 22nd of June, 1884, and they had
had only forty days' complete rations to live upon,
Schley hurried off at once. Had he been two days
later he would have been too late. There was a tent
wrecked by the gale, with its pole toppling over and
only kept in place by the guy ropes. Hipping it up
with a knife, a sight of horror \vas disclosed. On one
side, close to the opening, with his head towards the
RESCUE OF GREELY 279
outside, lay what was apparently a dead man. On the
opposite side was a poor fellow, alive but without hands
or feet, and with a spoon tied to the stump of his right
arm. Two others, seated on the ground, were pouring
something out of a rubber bottle into a tin can.
Directly opposite, on his hands and knees, was a dark
man with a long matted beard, in a dirty and tattered
dressing-gown with a little red skull cap on his head,
and brilliant staring eyes. As Colwell appeared, he
raised himself a little, and put on a pair of eyeglasses.
" Who are you ? " asked Colwell.
The man made no answer, staring at him vacantly.
" Who are you ? " again.
One of the men spoke up. " That's the Major-
Major Greely."
Colwell crawled in and took him by the hand, saying
to him, " Greely, is this you ? "
" Yes," said Greely in a faint, broken voice, hesitating
with his words ; " yes — seven of us left — here we are —
dying— like men. Did what I came to do — beat the
best record."
Near at hand were ten graves. The bodies, despite
Greely 's remonstrances, were taken up and removed
for burial in the United States. " Little could be seen
of the condition of the bodies, as they had been clothed,
and all that appeared was intact. In preparing them
subsequently," says Schley, " it was found that six had
been cut and the flesh removed." One of these, that
of a cavalryman serving under the assumed name of
Henry, had a bullet in it. He had been shot, at
Greely 's written order, " for stealing sealskin thongs,
the only remaining food."
280 GREENLAND
The next to add to our knowledge of the northern
coast of Greenland was Robert E. Peary, of the
American Navy, who seems to have devoted his life
to Arctic exploration. On his first expedition in 1886,
he penetrated with Maigaard for some distance into
the country in the neighbourhood of Jakobshavn as
a sort of pioneering venture. In 1891, accompanied
by his wife, when outward bound in the Kite in the
Melville Bay pack, he had his leg broken. The ship
had been butting a passage through the spongy sheets
of ice which had imprisoned her, when in going astern
a detached cake struck the rudder, jamming the tiller
against the wheel-house where Peary was standing,
and pinned his leg long enough to snap it between the
knee and the ankle. In spite of this he insisted on
being landed with the rest of the party at McCormick
Bay, a little to the north of Whale Sound, where a
house was built and the winter spent.
Making a good recovery, he set off in May to sledge
across North Greenland through snow and over it, and
over snow-arched crevasses, often, in cloudy weather
travelling in grey space with nothing visible beyond
a foot or two around him. After fifty-seven days'
journey to the north-east and along Peary Channel, the
northern boundary of the mainland, he left the inland
ice for a strange country dotted with snowdrifts and
mostly of red sandstone, in which murmuring streams,
roaring waterfalls, and the song of snow - buntings
formed an agreeable change from the silence of the
desert of snow. Four days' hard labouring through
this brought him on the 4th of July to Independence
Bay on the north-east coast, where from Navy Cliff',
To face page 280
PEARY'S EXPEDITIONS 281
nearly four thousand feet high, he looked across to
Academy Land on the other side of the bay and beyond
it over the region leading down to the farthest north
of the Duke of Orleans. " It was almost impossible,"
he says, "to believe that we were standing upon the
northern shore of Greenland as we gazed from the
summit of this bronze cliff, with the most brilliant
sunshine all about us, with yellow poppies growing
between the rocks around our feet, and a herd of musk-
oxen in the valley behind us. Down in that valley
I had found an old friend, a dandelion in bloom, and
had seen the bullet-like flight and heard the energetic
buzz of the humble-bee."
Next year he and his wife were out again to take up
their quarters at a house they built at Bowdoin Bay,
where, in September, their daughter was born. In
March, 1894, he started for another journey across
Greenland, with twelve sledges and over ninety dogs,
but severe weather drove him back after travelling
some two hundred miles. Staying over that winter
instead of returning in the Falcon, he set out in the
spring, and under almost desperate circumstances
managed to reach and return from Independence Bay.
Following this came his expedition of 1898, in which
he spent four winters in the Arctic regions and almost
met with Petersen's fate by a venturesome winter
sledge journey, which resulted in the freezing of his
feet and the loss of eight of his toes. Travelling in
Grinnell Land he proved beyond doubt that it was
continuous with Ellesmere Land, as had been admitted
by those who named it. Following Lockwood's track,
he continued it up to 83° 54', along Hazen Land, prac-
282 GREENLAND
tically completing the coast-line to Cape Henry Parish,
its furthest east, thus rounding the north of the Green-
land archipelago, and even there finding traces of
Eskimos and a fauna similar to that of other Arctic lands
hundreds of miles further south. And striking north-
wards over the sea from Cape Hecla, with seven men and
six dog-sledges, into the breaking, drifting pack, he made
a dash for the Pole which ended at 84° 17'.
His next northern venture, though not more remark-
able, is destined, perhaps, to be remembered longer.
On it he sighted the new land away out in the sea
north-west of Grinnell Land, nearer to the Pole than
any other land discovered up to then, and where it was
expected to be. And out over the ice he went to
eclipse his 1902 record by nearly two hundred miles,
in the best planned of all his journeys.
In July, 1905, he had left New York in the Roosevelt,
a steamship of over six hundred tons and more than
a thousand horse-power, rigged complete as a three-
masted coasting schooner, able to hold her own almost
anywhere in the event of her engines becoming useless.
One hundred and eighty- two feet in length, thirty-five
and a half in beam, and sixteen and a quarter in depth ;
sharp in the bow and rounded amidships ; treble in
framing and double in planking, with sides thirty
inches thick, twelve feet of deadwood in her bow, and
six feet of false keels and kelsons, she was specially
built for the expedition as the strongest and most
powerful vessel ever sent on Arctic service, and was
launched on the 23rd of May, 1905, Mrs. Peary
naming her by smashing a block of ice against her
ironclad stem.
VOYAGE OF THE "ROOSEVELT" 283
A month out from New York, the Roosevelt left
Eitah laden deep with coal from the Eric that had
awaited her there, and having on board over fifty
Eskimos, of both sexes and all sizes, and some two
hundred Eskimo dogs. Leaving a reserve of provisions
at Bache Peninsula, she worked up through open
water and occasional ice to Richardson Bay, where
the pack looked so threatening that Peary literally
rammed his way across to the eastern side, and so con-
tinued northwards. When off Cape Lupton the ship
received such rough treatment that the rudder was
twisted and the head-bands and tiller-rods broken, as
she ground along the face of the ice-foot " with a
motion and noise like that of a railway-car which has
left the rails " ; but this was the only time she was in
serious danger during her most fortunate run. Resting
for six days in Newman Bay to repair damages and
make ready for a final effort, she was headed westward
to Grinnell Land through the floes, and after a con-
tinuous battle of thirty-five hours, reached the ice-foot
at Cape Sheridan, a little north of the old winter
quarters of the Alert, and found her wintering place,
like her, just as the Polar pack closed in against the
shore. The endeavour had been to lay up in Porter
Bay, twenty-seven miles further north, but the state
of the ice made this impossible.
Provisions were plentiful, as no less than two hundred
and fifty musk oxen had been shot by the 1st of Novem-
ber, and there were numbers of hares and several herds
of the white reindeer first mentioned by Hudson in his
second voyage three hundred years ago. During the
very mild winter eighty of the dogs died, and when
284 GREENLAND
sledging began only twenty teams of six each were
available. The plan of the northern advance over the
ice was to divide it into sections of about fifty miles
each, with snow houses at each station, the nearest
station being supplied from the base and supplying the
next, and so on, thus keeping up an unbroken line of
communication gradually extending nearer to the Pole,
the sledges working backwards and forwards, outwards
laden and inwards empty, between station and station
along the line.
The land was left at Point Moss, north-west of Cape
Joseph Henry. At 84° 38' a lead in the pack stopped
the way for six days until the young ice was thick enough
to bear, and forty miles further north the vanguard
drifted east some seventy miles during a storm for
another six days. On the 20th of April a region of
much open water was reached, and from midnight to
noon next day the last effort was made by Peary,
Henson, and a small party of Eskimos, the farthest
north, 87° 6', being attained and immediately left in a
rapid retreat for safety.
Thus Peary went nearer to the Pole than Cagni by
thirty-two minutes or thirty- seven statute miles, both
being stopped by water with apparently similar condi-
tions ahead of them. What the conditions may be
along the intervening two hundred miles from Peary's
furthest nobody knows ; but although a good many
things may happen between London and York, which
is about the same distance, there is good reason for
supposing that, even if there be land somewhere, the
road is over a sea more or less packed with ice which
is never without its channels.
MOXON'S MARINER 285
One thing is clear : the attainment of the Pole is a
matter of money. Given the funds, the men and the
dogs, and the ships, boats, sledges, and other things
will be forthcoming, and the journey accomplished, not
by a rush, but on some systematic station-to-station
plan ; though it is not impossible that it may be done
by chance in some exceptional year, for the climate of
the north is variable and has a wider range of tempera-
ture than that of Britain in its good years and its bad
years.
Let us hope there may be land at the exact spot, for
then the position can be checked at leisure, and there
will be no doubt of its having been reached. Joseph
Moxon, Hydrographer to the King, in 1652 met at
Amsterdam a sailor of a Greenland ship which " went
not out to fish that summer, but only to take in the
lading of the whole fleet to bring it to an early
market" -in other words, to act as a carrier — which
ship, before the whaling fleet had caught enough to
lade her, had by order of the Company sailed to the
North Pole and back again, and even two degrees
beyond it ; no land seen, no ice, and the weather as it
was in summer-time at Amsterdam.
A sailor's yarn told in a tavern ? Only this and
nothing more, perhaps ; though a good many things
were kept dark in the whaling trade as in other trades.
But if there had been an island at the Pole we might
eventually have been able to verify that ancient
mariner's tale.
INDEX
Ahruzzi, Duke of, The, 76
Academy Land, 281
Actinia Haven, 87
Advance, The, 183, 236
Aid, The, 218, 211)
Akaitcho, 150, 156, 160
Alaska, 134
Aldrich, Pelham, 255
Alert, H.M.S., 248, 278
Alexander, The, 179
Alexander, Cape, 234, 235
Alexandra Land, 75
Alexandria, H.M.S., 179
Alfred Ernest, Cape, 257
Ameralik Fiord, 261
America, The Norse discovery of, 3
Amundsen, Roald, 178, 214
Anci/Ionema nordenshioe/dii, 264
Anderson Falls, The, 163
Andree, S. A., 104
Anjou, P. F., 108
Ann Frances, The, 220
Antelope, 126
Archangel, 6
Archer, Colin, 91
Archer Fiord, 250, 257
Archer, R., 257
Arctic, The, 247
Arctic Search Expedition, The first, 7
AKxistance, H.M.S., 183, 184
Atlassof, 128
Augustus the Eskimo, 157, 159, 160
Auk, Cape, 69
Auleitsivik Fiord, 263
Aurora Borealis, The, 67
Austin, Horatio, 183
Austria Sound, 68
Avigtait, 264
Baal's River, 260
Back, George, 38, 149, 151, 156, 160,
203
Baden-Powell, Sir George, 105
Baffin, William, 15, 233
Baffin Land, 233
Banks Land, 172, 176, 182
Baranoff Cape, 85
Barents Bay, 49
Barents, Willem, 9, 49
Barnacle Goose, The, 12
Barren Grounds, The, 156, 159
Barrington, The Hon. Daines, 29
Barrow Point, 137, 167, 273
Barrow, Sir John, 178
Barrow Strait, 180
Bathurst Island, 180, 206
Bear, Black, 110
Bear Island, 12
Bear, Polar, 11, 12, 23, 27, 28, 52,
73, 74, 88, 99, 186, 238, 267
Bear, The, 278
Beaufort Sea, The, 173
Beaumont, Lewis Anthony, 257
Beechey, Cape, 159
Beechey, Frederick William, 35, 137
Beechey Island, 180, 183, 186, 206
Belanger, 151
Belcher, Edward, 184
Bellot, Joseph Rene', 183, 207
Bellot Strait, 197
Bennet, Stephen, 12
Bennett Island, 107, 117, 126
Bering Strait, 85, 127
Bering, Veit, 130
Berry, Captain, 141
Bessels, Emil, 245
Best, George, 220
Best's Bulwark, 219
Bille, Cape, 262
Bird Cape, 12
Birds, 12, 88, 113, 114, 141, 160, 172,
181, 228, 239, 258, 280
Bismarck, Cape, 268
Bjarni discovers America, 2
Bjelkof Island, 107
Blossom, H.M.S., 137
Boat Extreme, 167
Bolscheretzkoi, 131
Bona Confidentia, The, 5
,, Esperansa, The, 6
287
288
INDEX
Booth, Felix, 194
Boothia, 190
Borough, Steven, 6
„ William, 8
Bosekop, 273
Bounty Cape, 180
Bowdoin Bay, 281
Bowen, Fort, 193
Bradley, Thomas, 4
Brainard, U. L., 276
Brattelid, 261
Brentford Bay, 197, 207
British Channel, 75, 99
Brorok, Cape, 82
Brown, Robert, 265
Brunei, Olivier, 9
Brunn, Mount, 71
Buchan, David, 33, 157
Buchan Island, 211
Budding-ton, J. M., 245
Bulun, 124
Bunge, A., 126
Burrough Strait, 7
Bush, Henry, 129
Butcher's Island, 217
Byam Martin Island, 180
Bylot, Robert, 233
Cabot, Sebastian, 4, 5
Cagni, Umberto, 77, 284
Cambridge Bay, 177
Cainden Bay, 177
Carcass, H.M.S., 29
Carlsen, Elling, 44, 58
„ Olaf, 65
Castor, The (boat), 166
Castor and Pollux River, 169, 208
Cathay Company, The, 218
Catherine, The Empress, 130
Cator, Lieutenant, 183
Cavendish thermometer, The, 30
Chamisso Island, 138
Chancellor, Richard, 5
Char, 44, 258
Charing Cross, 220
Charles's Foreland, Prince, 14
Chelagskoi, Cape, 108
Chelyuskin, Cape, 84
Cherie Island, 12
Chippewyan, Fort, 147, 152, 166
Christian Land, King, 185
Chukches, The, 89, 115, 127
Chvoinof, 106
Clavering Island, 268
Clerke, Charles, 136
Clio borea/is, 268
Coal, 45, 249, 258
Collinson, Richard, 171, 175
Columbia, Cape, 257
Columbus visits Iceland, 3
Colwell, J. C., 279
Commander Islands, The, 135
Conferences, The Polar, 273
Confidence, Fort, 167
Conger, Fort, 273
Constitution, Cape, 236
Conway, William Martin, 47
Cook, James, 90, 136
Cookery-of-Haarlem, 25
Coppermine River, 147, 153, 159, 167
Cornwall, North, 185
Cornwallis Island, 180, 206
Coronation Gulf, 155
Countess of Warwick Island, 219,
222
Crow's Nest, The, 30
Crozier, F. R. M., 205, 212
Cumberland Gulf, 227
Dall, W. H., 142
Danes Island, 104
Danish Sound, 185
Davis, John, 9, 223
Davis Strait, 227
Dealy Island, 174, 180
Dease, Peter Warren, 158, 165
Dease River, 158, 159
„ Strait, 168
Dee, Dr. John, 223
De Haven, Lieutenant, 183
„ Long, G. W., 116
Deschnef, 85
Des Voeux, C. F.,212
Devon, North, 180
IHana, The, 44
Dickson Harbour, 85, 273
Discovery, H.M.S. (Cook), 136
„ (Nares), 248
„ The (Hudson), 233
Discovery Harbour, 250
Distillation apparatus, The, 30
Dolphin, The (boat), 157, 158
Dolphin and Union Strait, 159
Dorothea, H.M.S., 33
Dove Bay, 268
Drummond, Thomas, 157, 160
Dudley, Ambrose, 216
Dudley Digges Cape, 234
Durfourth, Captain, 5
Dyer, Cape, 227
East Cape, 132
INDEX
289
Ebierbing and Tookoolito, 244
Edam, Laud of, 268
Edge, Thomas, 15
Edge's Island, 15
Edward Bonaventure, The, 5
Egede, Hans, 259
Paul, 260
Eira, The, 72
Elisabeth, The, 232
Ellen, The, 231
Ellesmere Land, 235, 281
Ellis, John, 225
Elmwood, 103
Elson, Thomas, 137, 159
Elson Bay, 137
Endeavour, The (boat), 41
English Chief, 147
Entada bean, The, 44
Enterprise, Fort, 150
Enterprise, H.M.S., 171, 175
„ The (boat), 41
Erebus, H.M.S., 171, 183, 205
Eric, The, 283
Eric the Red, 2, 261
Ermine, 188
Eskimo relics, 277
Eskimos first met with, 217
Eskimos, Migration of the, 3
3, 139, 140, 145, 152, 154,
157, 158, 159, 167, 168, 176, 192,
198, 200, 207, 211, 217, 222, 225,
229, 237, 244, 246, 258, 260, 277,
282, 283
Etah, 283
Eveusen, Captain, 83
Exeter Sound, 227
Express, The, 87
Falcon, The, 281
Farewell, Cape, 271
Fedotof, 129
Felix Harbour, 197
Felix, The, 182
Fern, The first Spitsbergen, 43
Finlay Island, 185
Finlayson Islands, 177
Fish River, The Great, 160, 169
Fishes, 153, 176, 258
FitzJames, James, 212
Fligely, Cape, 70, 76
Floeberg Beach, 250
Flora, Cape, 72, 75, 103
Forsyth, C. C., 183
Fossils, 43, 107, 126, 173, 266
Foulke Harbour, 239
Fox, Arctic, 23, 53
Fox, Black, 144
,. Silver-grey, 144
Fox, The, 208
Fram, The, 91, 185
Franklin, Fort, 158
Franklin, John, 33, 149, 156, 195,
205
Lady, 209, 235
Franklin Record, The, 212
„ Strait, 206
Franz Josef Fiord, 269
„ Land, 62, 64
Fraser, The, 87
Frazer, Cape, 236
Frederick Jackson Island, 99
Frederiksdal, 271
Frobisher Bay, 216
Frobisher, Martin, 215
Frozen Strait, 190
Fur-seal, The, 135
Furv Beach, 193, 202
„" and Hecla Strait, 193
Fury, H.M.S., 191
Gabriel, The (Bering), 132
„ „ (Frobisher), 216, 218
Gabriel Islands, The, 221
Gardiner, Charles, 59
Garry, Fort, 165
George, The, 8
Germania, The, 267
Gibraltar Bay, Battle of, 58
Giffard, G. A., 255
Gilbert, Adrian, 223, 229
„ Humphrey, 215, 221
Gilbert Sound, 225
Gjoa, The, 214
Gioahaven, 214
Glaciers, 16, 46, 68, 189, 242, 237,
244, 264
Glow-worm, The, 59
Godfrey, William, 236
Godthaab, 91, 225, 273
Godthaab Fiord, 260
Gore, Graham, 206, 212
Graah, W. A., 266
Graham Island, 185
Greely, A. W., 272
Greenland, 2, 14, 259
Greenland Archipelago, The, 282
Greenland, East, 12
Greyhound, The, 10
Griffith Island, 180
Grinnell Land, 236, 277, 281
Griper, H.M.S., 179,202, 267
Gulf Stream, The, 13, 26, 44
u
290
INDEX
Gundersen, Captain, 59
Gunnbiorn discovers Greenland, 2
Hakluyt Headland,, 14
Hall Basin, 245
Hall, C. F., 213, 222, 244
„ Christopher, 216
„ James, 233
Hall Island, 68
Hall's Rest, 246
Hamilton, Cape, 174
Hans Hendrik, 237, 245, 249
Hansa, The, 267
Hare, 172, 176, 181, 186, 188, 283
Hare Fiord, 186
Hartstene Bay, 241
Hayes, I. I., 237
Hazen, Lake, 277
Hazen Land, 281
Hearne, Samuel, 147
Hecla, Cape, 282
Hecla, H.M.S., 40, 179, 191
Hedenstrom, 107
Heemskerck, Jacob van, 10, 49
Heer, Oswald, 266
Hegemann, Captain, 269
Heiberg Land, Axel, 185
Hellulaud, 3
Heudou, North, 197
Hendrik, Hans, 237, 245, 249
Hendriksen Sound, 185
Henrietta Island, 107
Hensou, C., 284
Hepburn, John, 156, 207
Herald, H. M.S., 138
Herald Island, 116, 141
Herschel, Cape, 169, 212
Himkoff, Alexis, 26
Hinlopen Strait, 17
Hobson, W. R., 208, 212
Hohenlohe Island, 68
Hood River, The, 155
Hood, Robert, 149
Hooper, William Hulme, 140
Hope, Fort, 204
Hope, The (Young), 75
„ „ (Egede), 260
Howgate, H. W., 274
Hudson Bay, 62
Hudson, Henry, 13, 15, 60
Hudson River, The, 61
„ Strait, 4, 62, 221, 232
Hudson's Bay Company, The, 146
,, Touches, 14
Humboldt Glacier, The, 237
Hyaqua shell, The, 145
Icebergs, 35, 230, 264
Ice-drill, The, 30
Ice Haven, 49
Iceland, 2
Icy Cape, 136, 137
Igloolik, 193
Igloos, 198, 211
Ikmallik, 200
Independence Bay, 280
Inglefield, E. A. ,"235
Ingolf lands in Iceland, 2
Insects, 192, 281
International Polar Stations, The,
272
Intrepid, H.M.S., 183
Investigator, H.M.S., 171
Irkaipii, 89, 136
Irving, John, 212, 213
Isabel, The, 235
Isabella, Cape, 235
Isabella, The, 179, 202
Isachsen, Cape, 186
Isbjorn, The, 64
Jackman, Charles, 8, 60
Jackson, Frederick G., 75, 103
Jakobshavn, 266, 280
Jan Mayen, 14, 273
Japanese, The, 129, 133
Jason, The, 261
Jeannette, The, 91, 116, 141
Jeannette Island, 107
Jeukinson, Anthony, 7, 215
Jesup Land, 185
Joe and Hannah, 244
Johansen, F. H., 96
John, The, 196
Jones Sound, 234
Joseph Henry, Cape, 284
Journal, The, introduced, 5
Judith, The, 219
Julianehaab, 266
Kalutunah, 237
Kamchatka, 129
Kane, E. K., 236
Kane Sea, The, 235
Kara Sea, The, 7
Karmakul Bay, 273
Kay, E. C. Lister, 59
Kellett, Henry, 138, 174, 184
Kendall, E. N. 156
Kennedy Channel, 236
Kennedy, Port, 211
Kennedy, William, 183, 207
King, Richard, 160
INDEX
291
Kingua, 273
King William Land, 163, 214
Kite, The, 280
Knight, John, 146
Kod-lun-arn, 223
Kola, 9, 12, 57
Koldewey, Karl, 267
Kolguiev, 8
Kolyuchin Bay, 90
Kompakova, The, 129
Kotelnoi Island, 106, 117
Kraechoj, 127
Krusenstern, The, 196
Kruzof Island, 134
Ku Mark Surka, 122
Kuriles, The, 133
Kutchius, The, 145
Labrador, Discovery of, 4
Lahrets, 145
Lady Franklin, 183
Lady Franklin Bay, 250, 272
Lambert Land, 268
Lamont, James, 44
Lancaster Sound, 179, 180, 234
Lands Lokk, 186
Laptef, Dmitri, 85
„ Kharitou, 84
Leif lands in America, 3
Lemming, 188
Lena, The, 87
Lena Delta, The, 106
Liakhoff, 89, 106
Liakhoff Island, 89, 126
Lichens, 156
Lifeboat Cove, 247
Linschoten, Van, 10
Lion, The (boat), 157, 158
Little Table Island, 41
Lock, Michael, 61, 216
Lockvvood, James B., 272, 275
Lockwood Island, 276
Log, The, introduced, 5
Long, G. W. De, 116
„ Thomas, 141
Loschkin, S., 62
Louis Napoleon, Cape, 235
Ludlow, 62
Lunar at sea, The first, 17
Lundstrom, 85
Liitke, 63
Lutwidge, Skeffington, 29
Lyon, George Francis, 191, 202
Mackenzie, Alexander, 147
Mackenzie River, Discovery of, 148
Macintoshes, The first, 157
M'Clintock, F. L., 184, 208, 248, 268
M'Clintock, Cape, 99
M'Clure, Robert Le M., 171, 177
M'Cormick Bay, 280
McKay, James, 161
Magnet, The (boat), 204
Magnetic North Pole, 214
Mahlemut labret, The, 145
Mammals, Fossil, 126
Mammoth, 107, 115, 126
Markham, A. H., 247, 249
Marklaud, 3
Marten skins, 144
Martens, F., 25
Mary Harmsworth, Cape, 75
Mary Margaret, The, 15
Matiuschkin, 108
Matthew, The, 4
Matty Island, 201
Matyushiu Shar, 60
May, William H., 256
Melville Bay, 234
Melville, G. W., 117
Melville Island, 174, 176, 180
„ Peninsula, 192, 205
Merchant Adventurers, The, 5
Mercury, The, 9
Mercy Bay, 174
Mermaid, The, 229
Meta Incognita, 219
Michael, The, 216
Middendorf Glacier, The, 68
Middleton, Christopher, 190
Mistaken Streight, 221
Moloi, 106
Montreal Island, 162, 169, 206, 212
Moons, Mock, 151
Moonshine, The, 224, 229
Moore, Thomas E. L., 138
Moose-hunting, 144
Moravians, The, 261
Morton, William, 236, 245
Moss, E. L., 254
Moss Point, 284
Mossel Bay, 44, 45, 273
Moxon, Joseph, 285
Murchison, Cape, 197
Murchison River, 208
Muscovy Company, The, 6, 13, 15,
17, 60, 233
Musk ox, 126, 172, 181, 188, 248,
267, 283
Nai, Coruelis, 9
Nancy Dawson, The, 139
292
INDEX
Nansen, Fridtjof, 91, 261
Nares, G. S., 248
Narwhal,, 31, 188, 219
Nassau, Cape, 9
Navy Cliff, 280
Nelson, Horatio, 29
Neptune, The, 277
Newfoundland, Discovery of, 4
Newman Bay, 283
New Siberian Islands, The, 88, 106
Nindemann, 118
Nordenskiold, Adolf Erik, 43, 44,
85, 2G3
Noros, 118
Norsemen discover America, 2
Northbrook Island, 100
North Cape, The, 6, 89, 136
„ East Land, 26
North-East Passage, The, 5, 85
Northern Passage, The, 5
North Pole, The (boat), 204
North Pole, Magnetic, 214
North Star, The, 229
North Water, The, 234
North- West Fur Company, The, 147
,, Passage, The, 5
Norton Sound, 142
Nova Kholmogory, 9
Novaya Zemlya, 7, 9, 49
Nulato, 142
Ny Herrnhut, 261
Obi, The, 85
Observation, Mount, 172
Ochotsk, 129
Ommanney, Erasmus, 183
Omoki, The, 115
Ooligbuck the Eskimo, 157, 158, 168
Oraefa, Mount, 2
Orleans, Duke of, 268
Osborn, Sherard, 183
Ostiaks, The, 115
Oturiu, The, 105
Pachtussoff, 63
Pandora, The, 116
Parhelia, 152
Parker Bay, 171
Parr, Alfred A. C., 255
Parry, William Edward, 40, 178, 179,
191, 234
Parry Falls, The, 163
Patience, The, 233
Patrick Island, Prince, 174, 184
Pavy, O., 275
Payer, Julius, 64
Peary Channel, 280
Peary, Robert E., 185, 186, 280
Peel Sound, 206
Pellham, Edward, 18
Pelly Bay, 207
„ Point, 171
Pendulum Island, 267
Penny Strait, 206
Penny, William, 183
Pet, Arthur, 7, 60
Pet Strait, 8
Peter the Great, 130
Petermann Fiord, 248
Petermann, Mount, 269
Petersen Bay, 214
Petersen, C., 208
Petropaulovsk, 134
Phipps, The Hon. Constantine John,
29
Pirn, Bedford, 174
Pioneer, H.M.S., 183
Plants, 43, 88, 91, 113, 114, 156,
192, 248, 264, 266, 281
Plover, H.M.S., 138
Point Lake, 153
„ Victory, 206
Polar Stations, The International,
272, 273
Polaris, The, 245
Polhem, The, 44
Pollux, The (boat), 166
Poole, Jonas, 13, 15
Porcupine River, The, 142
Pospeloff, 62
Pribylov Islands, The, 135
Prince Albert, The, 183, 207
Prince of A Vales, Cape, 136
Prince of Wales Strait, 172, 176
Proeven, The, 85
Pronchistschef, 85
Protem, The, 274, 278
Protococcus nivalix, 192
Prudhoe Laud, 234
Pullen, W. J. S., 139
Quennerstedt, A., 43
Racehorse, H.M.S., 29
Racer, The, 183
Rae, Fort, 273
Rae, John, 170, 204, 207
Rae Strait, 208, 214
Raleigh, Mount, 227
Rat River, The, 142
Ravenscraig, The, 247
Rawlings Bay, 241
INDEX
293
Rawson, Wyatt, 257
Red snow, 192
Regent Inlet, Prince, 180
Regina, The, 59
Reikjavik founded, 2
Reindeer, 10, 18, 23, 27, 28, 60, 109,
150, 169, 172, 174, 176, 181, 188,
267, 283
Reindeer, White, 61, 283
Reliance, Fort, 160
Reliance, The (boat), 158
Rensselaer Harbour, 235, 236
Repulse Bay, 191, 204, 207
Resolute, H.M.S., 175, 183, 184
Resolution, H.M.S., 136
„ The (whaler), 31
Return Reef, 159, 166
Rhinoceros, 126
Richardson, John, 149, 156, 170
Richthofen Peak, 71
Rijp, Jan Corneliszoon, 11, 57
Ringnes Islands, The, 185
Ritenbenk, 249
Robeson Channel, 245
Rocky Mountains first crossed, 149
Rodgers, The, 141
Roosevelt, The, 282
Rosmysslof, 62
Ross, "James Clark, 41, 181, 201
„ John, 179, 182, 194, 234
Rudolf Island, Prince, 75, 76, 82
Rudson's Point, 14
Russell, Cape, 235
Ryder, Lieut., 266
Sabine, Edward, 181, 267
Sabine, Cape, 235
Sable, The, 135
Sagastyr Island, 273
St. Elias, Cape, 134
,, Mount, 136
St. Lawrence Bay, 141
„ Island, 132
St. Paul, The, 134
St. Peter, The, 134
Salmo arcturus, 258
Salmon trout, 176
Salutation, The, 18
Samoyeds, The, 10, 115
Sanderson's Hope, 232
Sanderson, William, 224
Sannikof, 107
Schley,, Wintield S., 278
Schouau Island, 70
Schwatka, Frederick, 213
Scoresby, William, the elder, 30
Scoresby, William, the younger, 31,
129, 266
Seal, The Fur, 135
Seals, 31, 88
Sea-otter, The, 135
Searrhthrift , The, 7
Semonovski Island, 117
Serdze Kamen, Cape, 90, 132, 136
Seven Islands, The, 40
Shackleton, Cape, 233
Shan tar Islands, The, 130
Sheathing for ships introduced, 5
Shedden, Robert, 139
Sheridan, Cape, 283
Siberia, 84, 106
Siberian Islands, The, 88, 106
Silver Bay, 63
Simmons Peninsula, 188
Simpson, Sir George, 165
„ Thomas, 165
Simpson Strait, 168, 206, 214
Sinclair, George, 166
Sirovatskof, 107
Sitka Sound, 134
Sledges and sledge-work, 184, 252
Smeerenberg, 24
Smith, Benjamin Leigh, 44, 72
Smith Sound, 234, 235
Snow, William Parker, 183
Snow houses, 198, 211
Sodankyla, 273
Sofia, The, 44
Somerset House, 202
Somerset, North, 180
Sonutag, August, 242
Sophia, The, 183
Spangberg, Martin, 131
Spinks, Robert, 37, 158
Spitsbergen, 12, 15, 16, 18, 24, 104
Steamship, The first Arctic, 194
Stella Polare, The, 76
Sterlegof, Cape, 85
Stoat, 188
Stolbovoi, 107
Stuxberg, 85
Sunshine, The, 224, 229, 232
Sverdrup, Otto, 104, 185, 261
Svjatoi Nos, 89
Tanana, The, 144
Tananas, The, 145
Tegetthoff, The, 64
Teplitz Bay, 69, 77
Terror, H.M.S., 171, 183, 203, 205
Thaddeus Island, 107, 117
Thames, The, 87
294 INDEX
Thermometer, The deep-sea, 30
Thetis, The, 278
Thirkill, Launcelot, 4
Thomusine, The, 16
Thorne, Robert, 5
Tiger, 126
Tigress, The, 247
Toll, Baron E., 126
Torell, Otto, 43
Trent, H. M.S., 33
Treurenberg Bay, 40
Tripe-de-roche, 156
Tschirikof, Alexei, 131
Tundra, The, 86, 113
Turnagain, Point, 155, 167
Tyndall Glacier, 244
Umivik, 262
Union, The (boat), 157, 158
United States, The, 239
Upernivik, 232
Valorous, H.M.S., 248
Veer, Gerrit de, 10, 49
Vega, The, 87
Victoria, Cape, 211
Victoria Land, 168
,, Sea, Queen, 75
„ Strait, 206
Victory, The, 194
Victory, Point, 212
Vinland, 3
Vlamingh, Willem de, 62
Vrangel', Ferdinand, 108
Wager River, 190
Waigatz Island, 7
Wainwright Inlet, 139
Walden Island, 40
Walker Bay, 176
Walnut Shell, The (boat), 157, 159
Walrus, 12, 13, 20, 31, 34, 57, 73,
82, 88, 93, 101
Walsingham, Francis, 224, 229, 231
Washington Irving Island, 250
Welden, Captain, 13
Wellington Channel, 180
Wentzel, 150, 151, 154
West England, 220
Weyprecht, K., 64, 272
Whale fishery, The, 15, 17
Whale, Greenland, 14, 15, 31, 265
Whale Island, 148
Whale, White, 88, 148, 188
Whaling trade begins, 15
White Man's Island, 223
White Sea, The, 6
White Shirt, 2
Whymper, Edward, 266
„ Frederick, 142
Wiggins, Joseph, 87
Wijde Bay, 17
Wilberforce Falls, The, 155
Wilczek Island, 66
William Laud, King, 163, 214
William, The, 8
Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 5
Windward, The, 76, 103
Winter Harbour, 174, 181
„ Island, 192
Winthont, The, 10
Wollaston Land, 158
Wolstenholme, Cape, 234
Wolverine, 144
Women Islands, The, 233
Wraugell, Ferdinand von, 108
Wrangell Island, 116, 141
Yakuts, The, 115
Yalmal, 85
Yenesei, The, 85
Ymer, The, 87
Young, Allen, 75, 116, 208, 213
Young's Foreland, 14
Yugor Strait, 8
Yukon, Fort, 142, 144
„ The, 142
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